Blood Upon The Risers
by grlm
Summary: "Where is the prince who can afford so to cover his country with troops for its defense, so that ten thousand men descending from the clouds might not, in many places, do an infinite deal of mischief before a force could be brought together to repel them?" - Benjamin Franklin, 1784
1. 1 A Day To Remember

**Chapter One: A Day To Remember**

" _The secret of the Paratrooper's success can be summed up in three words; comradeship, esprit de corps & efficiency_."

\- Major Rudolf Böhmler, Commanding Officer I./Fallschirmjäger Regiment 3, 1944

 **AUGUST 17TH 2017, 1800 HOURS, YOKOTA AIR BASE, FUSSA TOKYO, JAPAN**

The tarmac at Yokota Air Base was buzzing with life, the sun was beginning to set and the twilight sky had a nice orange glow to it. The hum and roar of various aircraft as they rolled across taxiways, either returning or taking off, did little to dissuade the group of men marching towards the rear of a C-17 ready to be loaded up. Laden with equipment they might have looked a little ridiculous to the casual observer, practically waddling their way into the aircraft, but all of it was necessary. To their left there was a mighty roar as another one of the massive aircraft took off into the sky, a few men turning their heads to watch. They'd be right after it in a moment.

Specialist Jacob Forrestal was one such man, snapping his head back into place as he waddled up the ramp and into the belly of the monstrous aircraft. In front of him was a sea of green and brown as his fellow soldiers in their OCP camouflage uniforms took their places. There were two rows of seats in the aircraft, the outboard side along the wall, and the inboard side which was in the direct center. When the man in front of him stopped and took his seat, Forrestal did the same.

"So, we gonna' teach the Japs what's what, or what bro?" A voice asked from next to Forrestal as he took his seat.

"Fuck yeah, brother." Forrestal said, sticking his fist out.

It was promptly bumped in response as the man next to him took his seat. Private First Class Oliver Kimber had been with Forrestal for the better part of a year and a half now, and the two were inseparable.

Eventually the loading process had finished, not that it had taken long, and all the men were seated. Forrestal and Kimber watched as the rear loading ramp was brought up and closed, Forrestal pulled off his helmet and laid it across his front as the door shut with an audible clunk, locking into place.

Eventually they could feel it as the aircraft started it's engines, a loud whine turning into a dull roar. The C-17 began to roll it's way across the tarmac, once it was in position it came to a halt. The pilots waited for their clearance to take off from the ATC and when it was finally received they went to work. Every soldier in the plane could feel as the aircraft picked up speed, faster and faster and faster, eventually the nose began to rise, the plane tilting back. And in an instant, they were airborne.

"Hey pretty boy, do my makeup for me." Forrestal nudged Kimber with his elbow as he produced a small metal case.

"Sure thing, dickhead." Kimber shoved his elbow into his side as he took the case from him, opening it up. There were a few swatches of colored grease paint and a mirror built into the lid. "You think we're gonna end up getting our asses blown away in the dark by the Japs?" He asked as he dipped two of his fingers into the green and rubbed them around.

"Better fucking not." Forrestal said as he turned his head for Kimber to start applying the paint. "I ain't never worked with the Japanese before, but I heard things bro."

"Yeah me too bro, that's why I'm fuckin' bringin' it up." Kimber said as he smeared some of the green across Forrestal's face.

"These First Airborne fuckers are supposed to be pretty top notch, so we should hopefully be dealing with a decent level of competency."

"You'd fuckin' hope bruh." Kimber said, applying another streak of green. "I heard these JGSDF fuckers ain't the-"

"Lock that down." A voice interrupted Kimber as a large African American man was making his way up the aisle.

"Yes, Staff Sergeant." Kimber responded immediately, continuing to apply paint to Forrestal's face.

Staff Sergeant Germaine Falkner, squad leader. A large and imposing man, native to Wyoming. He was as serious as he was caring, and the men in the platoon knew this well. Best not to get on his bad side.

"The Japanese are our allies, PFC. We are here to forge interoperability and cohesion with their airborne troops. If you believe they are inadequate at what they do, we are here to rectify that. You personally are here to rectify that."

"Yes, Staff Sergeant." Kimber nodded, he didn't want to make it any worse for himself.

"How about you, Specialist. Do you have any profound opinions on our Japanese allies?" Falkner had switched his attention to Forrestal.

"No, Staff Sergeant." Forrestal shook his head as Kimber went back to applying grease paint.

"I didn't think so. It'd be in both of your interests to get used to them. You know how long we're here."

"Yes, Staff Sergeant." The pair replied in unison as Falkner stalked off up the aisle.

After watching him walk off, and most certainly out of earshot, the bitching started.

"Bruh, I didn't realise Staff Sergeant had such a hard on for the Japs."

"Relax, Ollie. Don't get your ass smoked."

"Yeah, I hear ya' bro. Not worth it." Kimber added some streaks of black to Forrestal's face before pulling his hand away. "All done, get me." He said, handing the paint case over.

"You got it." Forrestal said, taking it and getting to work. They'd need to settle in for the flight just a little longer.

* * *

 **AUGUST 17TH 2017, 1815 HOURS, AKIHABARA, TOKYO, JAPAN**

Akihabara was rife with activity, especially at this time in the evening. Shoppers and tourists flitted from store to store, carrying their hauls with them. The nonstop onslaught of advertising blasting them from all angles, every inch of every building covered in some neon sign, using cute images and cartoon girls to try and grab the attention of any and all who saw them.

Among this crowd was one Itami Yōji, a seemingly average Japanese man in his early to mid thirties. Nothing really made him stick out, average height, average build, plain clothes, plain haircut, plain face. The only thing really remarkable about him at the moment would be the two massive shopping bags he carried in each hand, filled to the brim with DVDs and Manga.

One might find it hard to believe, but this very same Itami Yōji, carrying bags laden with loot only fit for what one would call an 'Otaku', was a Second Lieutenant in the JGSDF. A Ranger qualified Second Lieutenant in the JGSDF no less. None of that really mattered to him though. If you asked him, he'd tell you:

" _I work to support my hobby, you know. So if you asked me which I'd choose, my job or my hobby, my hobby takes priority."_

Itami weaved his way through the crowds masterfully, protecting his possessions with calculated movements. He had been granted three days of leave, and he intended to spend them to the fullest. A shopping spree in Akihabara was the perfect use of day one, and an excellent segue into day two.

Tomorrow was a Doujinshi convention, and some of his favorite circles were going to be there. Another great way to blow a paycheck, buying new releases straight from the source, maybe even getting them signed. He couldn't wait, the thought of it made him feel excited from head to toe. Much more giddy than a man his age should feel about most things, let alone this.

But Itami didn't care what anyone else thought really, his hobby was his hobby, and it was what he enjoyed, that's all that mattered to him. The perk to receiving a Second Lieutenant's paycheck was he could spend it how he pleased.

As Itami made his way to the train station so he could head on home, a thought did briefly cross his mind. A unit from the 1st Battalion was participating in a live fire airborne exercise tonight, if he had heard correctly, and while Itami could really care less about training exercises, cross training with American soldiers was different.

Not that he was envious of missing out on some kind of unique training experience, he wasn't, but live fire exercises with an allied army were a very clear escalation of things. And if there was one thing Itami didn't like, it was escalation. Politics had become very heated in the past year or so, between the amendment to Article 9 of the constitution, the Chinese pushing hard for control over the Senkaku Islands, and now the North Koreans firing missiles over Hokkaido, it really would be an inconvenience to Itami if things escalated further. There was a convention in a month, and he knew for a fact one of his favorite Mangakas was going to be there, he'd really hate to have to miss it all because of something silly like a war.

The truth was, if there was one thing Itami had excelled at during his time in service it was his fantastic ability to avoid trouble at all costs. He had only passed officer training second to last because the person below him failed due to an injury. He got through his Ranger qualifications only because he was able to keep his head down and avoid the wrath of the instructors.

Itami had faith though, there'd been other times in his military career with other seemingly close calls. None had ever really happened, and he was thankful. He could continue to enjoy his hobby in peace.

As the train pulled into the station and Itami boarded, all the thoughts of work, politics, and war slipped out of his head. They were irrelevant. He had a big day planned tomorrow, and instead his mind wandered off, back to thinking of all the different things he'd be able to buy tomorrow. It was going to be great.

* * *

 **AUGUST 17TH 2017, 1845 HOURS, APPROACHING AIRSPACE ABOVE DZ NARASHINO, CHIBA PREFECTURE, JAPAN**

"Alright gentlemen, listen up!" Came a yell, the voice was demanding and commanded the attention of every man on the plane. Captain Walker was the Commanding Officer of Delta Company. Everything from his haircut to his square jaw proudly announced that he was a military man. "Before we step off, I want to reinforce some things. This is a live fire exercise boys, so mind your p's and q's. I don't want any incidents because someone didn't check their target. Especially not since we're here to assist the Japanese."

There was a pause of silence as the lights in the cabin turned off, being replaced with red lights that washed over the waiting soldiers. It was time. Soldiers began to pull on their helmets and affix them with straps.

"That being said, I have nothing but full faith in the professionalism with which you will all execute your duty. We will teach our Japanese allies how real Paratroopers fight. The 'All American' way, hooah?"

"Hooah!" Came a chorus of cries from every soldier on the plane.

"Outboard personnel, stand up!" The Jumpmasters yelled, waving their hands upward.

"Outboard personnel, stand up!" Forrestal and Kimber yelled in unison with everyone on the outboard side as they got up. After pushing their seats back up into the wall of the plane they automatically began to check the man in front of them, a last minute safety check to make sure everything looked good. Forrestal quickly ran his hands up and down the soldier in front of him's parachute, everything looked good. At the same time Kimber was doing the same for him.

"Okay!" Forrestal yelled, patting the soldier's shoulder and giving him a thumbs up. Kimber did the same for him.

"All okay Jumpmaster!" Someone up the line yelled.

"Inboard personnel, stand up!" The Jumpmasters yelled once more, waving their hands upward.

"Inboard personnel, stand up!" Came a chorus of replies. The process was repeated for all the soldiers on the inboard side. Checking their equipment and making sure all was right.

After a few moments of silence they received the command they were all waiting for.

"Hook up!" The Jumpmasters yelled, bringing their arms up and down.

"Hook up!" Every soldier repeated. Forrestal reached up and grabbed a hold of the line above his head, bringing it down a bit so he could attach his yellow cord to it. Every soldier did the same, a series of satisfying clicks as each cord connected with the line.

The low hum of the engines from inside the aircraft was suddenly replaced with a deafening roar as the side doors were unlocked and pushed up by the aircrew. After this the jump platforms were pushed down, providing a small space just outside the door for footing. The aircrew then checked the door for any obstructions that might present a safety hazard to the exiting troopers.

"Here we fuckin' go!" Kimber yelled out.

At the front of the line, a young Lieutenant received the thumbs up from the aircrew to perform his own check. He waddled forward, handing his cord off to the jumpmaster as he ran his hands along the edge of the door. He took a knee and swept along the bottom edge, all seemed well.

Second Lieutenant Alex Diaz got back up on his feet and grabbed on to the edge of the doors, leaning out and peering into the inky blackness of the night as the sun had almost fully disappeared over the horizon. Satisfied, he took a step back and gave a look over his shoulder at the soldier who had been standing in line behind him. He then gave the Jumpmaster a thumbs up.

"You good, Griffin?!" He yelled to the soldier.

"All good here, sir!" Came the response.

The light above the door changed from red to yellow.

"Two minutes, standby!" The Jumpmaster yelled.

A silence swept over the aircraft, none of the soldiers talked. The only noise was the roar of the C-17 Globemaster's jet engines. Corporal James Griffin was directed forward towards the door, handing his cord to the Jumpmaster. He grabbed on to the door edges and waited. After a few moments of silence passed, which felt like hours, he heard what he'd been waiting for.

"Green light, go go go!" The jumpmaster yelled, Griffin felt a smack on the back of his helmet at the same time. He waddled forward and out the door, slipping into the dark of the night.

Behind him the line of soldiers did the same. Filing forward and handing their cords off to the Jumpmaster on the way out. It was a well rehearsed routine that they'd been through many times before tonight.

Forrestal waddled his way forward, following the soldier in front of him. As they approached the door the whine and roar of the engines only grew more deafening. He didn't mind though, no, he found the noise of the engine quite comforting personally. It meant the aircraft was working perfectly fine. Which in his book, was the best kind of aircraft to jump out of. In his own words:

" _Better to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft which will be steady than an aircraft that's going down."_

Forrestal watched as the man in front of him waddled out the door, disappearing into the darkness. It was his turn. He didn't hesitate. To hesitate upon exiting the aircraft might mean soldiers behind him would miss the DZ, and he'd be held accountable. Besides, they'd just kick you out of the plane anyway.

He handed his cord off to the Jumpmaster as quickly as possible before hugging his hands to his chest and waddled out the door. He let out a yell, not that it could be heard over the roar of the engines as he was violently thrown sideways for a moment, all the while counting in his head.

" _1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000…"_

There was a violent shock as he felt his parachute automatically open, he looked up to confirm. There it was, his silk had unfolded perfectly. He kicked his legs a bit to straighten himself out, grabbing onto his risers. Afterwards he looked around instinctively, and although he couldn't see much, he was fairly certain no one was going to fly into him. Above him he could see the C-17 flying off into the distance, it's navigation lights on. In other directions he could see other aircraft heading the same way, some more C-17s and most certainly a few Kawasaki C-1s.

Silence began to overtake the air around Forrestal as the aircraft faded into the distance. The only noise was the wind smacking him in the face as he descended. He looked down towards the ground to see if he could spot the DZ.

Prior to his chalk arriving other aircraft would have already passed overhead dropping off Japanese and American pathfinders to set up the DZ for their respective units, along with this their supplies and vehicles would have also already been dropped beforehand and were waiting on the ground to be unpacked.

After looking for a few moments he spotted it, a set of flares demarcating where they should be aiming for. Not that there was much steering capability with the T-11 parachute system in the first place. But Forrestal would do his best regardless. He pulled on his left riser, in an attempt to influence the parachute, kicking his feet at the same time to turn himself. It was a semi-successful effort, and he'd take what he got.

He was against the wind, which was slowing him down, but the ground was still approaching fast. The rate of descent with the T-11 parachute system was roughly eight meters a second, if you were to land improperly you could easily break something.

Faster and faster the ground was approaching, Forrestal reached down and prepared to unhook his kit bag. He waited for just the right moment and then… click. He undid the harness, and the bag tumbled from its position over his groin, tumbling down towards the Earth before it ran out of line.

A few moments later and his bag had made contact with the ground, he was next. It was difficult to see in the dark, so close to the ground, but he knew it was coming. Forrestal prepared himself to perform a PFL. His knees bent slightly on instinct, and with a violent shock he had finally met the ground. The balls of his feet were the first point of contact, after which he rolled onto his side. His hand shot up to the release on his harness, he'd have to undo it quickly if he didn't want to get dragged away by his parachute.

Forrestal pushed himself up onto one knee quickly, and had a look up. He wasn't able to see much, but he had to make sure no one was about to fall right on him. It didn't appear so, which was great news for him.

He released the reserve chute from his chest, allowing it to flop onto the ground. If this were a normal training drop, Forrestal would have to gather up his main chute and pack it up for collection. Thankfully this wasn't a normal training drop, they were training for combat conditions here. So he could leave his parachute behind for collection later.

After this he released the weapons case from under his left arm and promptly ripped the velcro open, allowing him to retrieve his rifle from inside.

"Friendlies coming up on your six." A voice said softly.

Forrestal could hear the group coming into position behind them as he grabbed his ruck and fumbled it open in the dark. Someone provided him with a low-visibility light as he retrieved his AN/PVS-14. He removed the tape covering his mount on his helmet that covered the sharp edges so they didn't sever his cord when he jumped. He attached the AN/PVS-14 into place and then promptly pulled it down so he could see.

After his eyes adjusted within a few moments, he could see that with him was a group of about four soldiers, lead by Staff Sergeant Falkner.

"All set?" The Staff Sergeant asked.

"Yes, Staff Sergeant." Forrestal replied with a nod as he brought his M4 up to his shoulder.

"Let's get rolling then, we're pushing up to RV with the Lieutenant."

As Forrestal put his ruck on, the group of soldiers moved like a well oiled machine, Forrestal fell into the rear as they moved past him. The Narashino maneuvering grounds were a relatively flat area of land. It didn't take long before the Rally point came into view.

Nearby, the flares that had demarcated the DZ were buried into the dirt, removing the light source. Some soldiers were working on getting a HMMWV detached from an airborne pallet. Others were carrying crates over towards where the Lieutenant and Platoon Sergeant were gathering men.

The crates were placed on the ground and opened up, they contained the IOTV vests for the paratroopers that was dropped with the Pathfinders. You could only drop with so much weight, and while the IOTV could be worn during a jump, it would have to have no pouches attached, which would mean having to sit around attaching those, something they didn't have time for.

"Gear up, boys." Lieutenant Diaz ordered as the IOTVs were distributed. "We've got ten mikes before we need to start moving out."

Forrestal removed his ruck, and placed his rifle on the ground as one of the vests was handed to him. He slipped it on as quickly as he could, fixing it into place. As he grabbed his ruck off the ground there was a loud series of pops in the distance, someone off to their left was already engaging targets. As he started to fill the pouches of his IOTV with magazines Lieutenant Diaz began to brief his squad leaders.

"Alright." Lieutenant Diaz started. He was shining a low visibility flashlight onto a map so they could better read it. The RTO, Griffin, was busy coordinating with the other Platoons next to the Lieutenant. "Platoon's breaking down into it's respective sections. Falkner, your boys are moving up here. Take your Humvees, engage any hostile targets, and dig in. Bravo section will dig in to your direct North, and we'll be behind you to the East. We'll be here all night so make sure you get comfortable."

"Sir, where are the Japanese?" Falkner asked, looking at the map. Marking one of his own.

"The Japanese should have dropped somewhere around… here." Lieutenant Diaz pointed to the map for a moment before then pointing off in a direction. "They'll be digging in to our South. Ballista will be further up to our North, past Bravo. Cutlass will be with the Japanese to the South. We're forming the center of this."

"Copy that." Falkner nodded, making a final mark on his map.

"Any further questions?" Lieutenant Diaz asked.

The other squad leader, Staff Sergeant John D'Ambrosio spoke up. "Any word on the kind of resistance we should be expecting throughout the night?"

"Not a clue, D'Ambrosio. Stay alert until daybreak, we're supposed to be getting relieved by Japanese armor." The Lieutenant started to fold up his map as the Platoon Sergeant came up behind him, taking a knee. "Alright gentlemen, break it up and get mounted, we have a long night ahead of us."

"Forrestal!" Falkner yelled out, getting Forrestal's attention.

"Staff Sergeant?"

"You're with Kimber, Moreau, and Martinez, mount up!" Falkner then turned his attention to other men in the squad. "Perry! Take Vasquez, Brown, and Hoffman! The rest of you three with me!"

"Martinez?" Forrestal said slightly confused, he knew who Moreau was, didn't talk to him much. But he didn't know a Martinez.

"Yo bro, come on." Kimber had come up next to him, taking a knee.

"You're my driver, alright?" Forrestal said as they got up, moving towards the Humvees that had been unpacked from their pallets.

"You know it." Kimber said as he went around, he had already slipped his ruck off.

Airborne Humvees were slightly different from what many were used to seeing in the news. With the War on Terror and the widespread use of IEDs the Humvee had become relatively unrecognizable to when it was first introduced in the 1980s. To effectively fight in the tight urban corridors of Iraq, where any piece of trash could explode at a moment's notice, pounds and pounds of armor had been strapped to Humvees in an attempt to increase survivability, the turrets on top went from having a simple gun shield, to full 360 degrees of armored protection, ballistic glass windows included.

The problem for the airborne was, it was already a pretty tricky operation dropping a Humvee from an aircraft, dropping one with hundreds of pounds of add ons on was simply a no go. Their Humvees forwent the additional armor packages, opting for the lightest weight possible. Doors were an unnecessary frivolity altogether. Seats? Besides the driver and front passenger seat, what was really necessary? Any additional passengers could make do with the flatbed in the back.

"Ready to rock n' roll?!" Kimber yelled from the driver's seat, he had put his ruck in the flatbed.

"Waitin' on the other two, standby." Forrestal replied as the two soldiers came up to the Humvee. He recognized the one, Moreau, but the one lugging the SAW around was a new face.

"You my uber?" Moreau asked.

"Fuck yeah Specs, pile in. Who's your friend?"

"This is Martinez. New guy, been with us two months, you dunno him?" Moreau said, he clambered into the back of the Humvee.

"Great a fuckin' boot." Forrestal let out a sigh. He watched as the short hispanic followed Moreau's example, clambering into the back, he had yet to say a single word. Forrestal pushed his ruck into the back of the flatbed.

"Lead vehicle's gettin' a move on, we ready to roll?" Kimber asked.

"Fuck yeah, hit the road." Forrestal said as he slid into the front passenger's seat, resting his right leg on the frame of the door.

They watched as Staff Sergeant Falkner's Humvee began to roll forward and away, the second vehicle falling in behind him, minding their spacing. Kimber fell in behind them as they rolled and rattled across the grass. There was more pops and bangs in the distance as more targets were engaged, it was going to be a long night.

* * *

 **DATE UNKNOWN, 2000 HOURS, ALNUS HILL, IMPERIAL TERRITORY**

On Alnus hill a grand army had been raised, one of the largest in the Empire's great history. One the likes of had not been seen since the great Arctic War so many years ago. Over one hundred thousand Imperial soldiers, cavalry, dragon riders, along with various beastmen, Orcs, Goblins, and Ogres.

This would be the force that would propel the Empire to greater heights than it had ever seen before. They were going to cross through the Gate on Alnus hill and conquer whatever may be on the other side. It was a good day. One that would be remembered in Imperial history for centuries to come. The war camps were filled with men happily waiting to head off to war.

Remus Remiliosis was an Imperial officer, a Centurion. He rode his horse between the many many rows of tents that lay just beyond the base of Alnus hill, it would be disrespectful to set up one's living area on the holy ground of Alnus, his Centuria would be one of the first to cross the Gate tomorrow morning.

He had finally arrived at his destination, the tent of his superior Primus Pilus Maron Mal Macaron. He had called his Centurions together to speak with them before they entered battle. Remus dismounted his horse, a nearby soldier took the reigns, leading his horse away.

As Remus pushed the tent flaps open, he was met with a merry sight. All around there was drink and laughter, for what he had been dreading would be a strategic meeting, it did not appear to be at all.

"If it is not Remus Remiliosis, come in, come in!" He was waved in by many a pair of hands, a few cheers of greeting as well.

"With all of you here, my faithful Centurions." Maron Mal Macaron had stood up. "We may begin. Tomorrow is the most important day in the Empires history, and we shall be an undoubtedly important part of that." He waved his drink, causing an uproar of cheers.

Remus took his seat at the table as a drink was passed to him, he grabbed hold of the wooden cup and knocked it back, gulping down the frothy liquid inside as the Centurion next to him slapped a hand onto his shoulder.

"I can proudly say I lead the best Cohort in Count Formal's legion." Maron Mal Macaron continued. "So tonight, drink, laugh, and be merry. For tomorrow, we begin the conquest of a new land."

A cheer rose up among the Centurions once more, tonight was their night, and tomorrow would be their day. Throughout the camp of the Imperial Army similar celebrations were taking place. Drinking, dancing, music. Tomorrow they'd be on the war path, claiming glory in the name of Emperor Molt Sol Augustus.

As Remus drank with his fellow Centurions, he laughed, and felt happy with the rest of them. But something weighed on his mind. Something did not feel right. While he was most certainly a faithful soldier of the Empire, and he would never question the Emperor's will. He couldn't help but feel that whatever may lay on the other side of the Gate may not be something that was intended to be trifled with. Alnus hill was a holy place, and many of the races present on the continent of Falmart credited Alnus hill with their creation. If such legends were to be believed, what otherworldly force could lay beyond the Gate.

Of course, after Remus downed his third cup of mead, he let such thoughts slip from his mind. He would allow himself to become drunk, and not let such worries bother him for long. Such affairs could be left for tomorrow.

* * *

 **AUGUST 17TH 2017, 2300 HOURS, NARASHINO MANEUVERING GROUNDS, JGSDF CAMP NARASHINO, CHIBA PREFECTURE, JAPAN**

All was quiet. Too quiet. Hours had passed since the soldiers of Dagger Platoon had taken position. Fighting holes had been dug, weapons systems set up, men put on watch. The harassing enemy 'attacks' which were supposed to occur… never came. That didn't stop them from being on edge though.

"Ollie, you got anything out there?" Forrestal asked aloud, he had been looking through his M68 CCO optic for the better part of a half hour now.

"Negative." Came the response from the other side of the small ditch they'd created.

In the center, Martinez and Moreau were similarly scanning for targets. Martinez still hadn't spoken a word. There was a series of pops and bangs to their left once more, for what was probably the fiftieth time that night. It was the general consensus among the group that the Japanese were firing their weapons into the night at nothing at this point.

"Hey, boot." Forrestal finally said after a moment, breaking the silence that had set in after the gunfire had finished. He nudged Martinez with his foot at the same time. He simply turned his head to look at him in response. "You fuckin' slow or something?"

There was another pause of silence before a response was finally achieved. "No."

"Jesus fuckin' Christ, it talks." Kimber could be heard to say from the other side. It was hard to say if he was happy or disappointed

"More than he's said to me in the past week." Moreau spoke up.

"What's your deal, kid?" Forrestal didn't take his eyes off his optic. Quite frankly his eyes were starting to hurt.

"Don't talk much." He replied simply, in a low monotone voice.

"Yeah well fuckin' change that. We've been in this hole for what? Fuckin' like, I dunno, five hours? Fuckin' say somethin' dude."

"Like what?"

"I dunno, where the fuck's your weird ass from?" Kimber piped in.

"Albuquerque."

"No shit, huh? You speak Spanish?"

"No."

"Fuckin' hell, alright. Don't get too enthusiastic." Kimber let out some air in a mock sigh.

"It's a start." Forrestal said, pulling his face back, he got a good look at him.

Martinez was a short and stocky kid, couldn't have been taller than 5'6". Smooth and baby faced, one could hardly believe he was 19. He definitely had an odd look about him. But hey, this was the Army. This is where all the weirdos from any walk of life went, Martinez was most certainly not the strangest creature to ever don the uniform.

"Well. Anyway. That bleach blonde Cali-fucker at the other end of the trench is Ollie. He's gonna want you to call him Hang Ten because he think's he's hot shit at surfing. But you're gonna call him Ollie because Hang Ten is one of the gayest things you've ever heard, hooah?"

"Hooah." Martinez replied in his usual tone of voice.

"Fuck you." Came a response from Kimber.

"You've been rollin' with Specs for a while, so you'll know him as the loser with the glasses who spends all his time with his face buried in a fucking screen. I think that one's pretty self-explanatory."

"Hey, fuckin' look man, if Doc'll call me Hang Ten, why can't you fuckin' assholes." Kimber interrupted.

"Oh my fucking God. Because it's the gayest fucking thing ever and Doc is indulging you because he can't bring himself to fucking tell you it's gay."

"Fuck you."

"What about you?" Martinez spoke up, attempting to stop a pointless argument from breaking out.

"You'll call me Forrestal and we'll keep it at that."

Martinez responded with a nod as he adjusted the SAW, he took a look through his optic. Still nothing.

"So, what're we gonna call him then?" Kimber spoke up.

"Who, me?" Martinez asked, looking over. His voice seemed to leave it's monotone state for a moment.

"Yes, you, boot."

"I'm thinking Mouse." Forrestal said matter of factly.

"I like it." Moreau nodded.

"Mouse?" Martinez turned his head around towards Forrestal now. "Why Mouse?"

"You make about as much noise as one, and you're basically the same size."

"Fuck you." Martinez responded.

"That's the spirit." Kimber encouraged him. "The trick is we all hate Forrestal."

"You fuckin' love me you fruity fucking bastard." Forrestal said as he placed his M4 down next to him in the trench. "Let's start sleeping in shifts, even if we don't get any contact tonight, Japanese armor is gonna be rolling up on us in the morning. Mouse you're up first, wake me up at 0100 and I'll relieve you. Don't fall asleep." Forrestal said as he slid over onto his back and lowered himself down a little further into their makeshift trench. He pushed up his AN/PVS-14 mount, the dark overtook his eyesight as it had become adjusted to the night vison, he couldn't see a thing.

"I ain't gonna fuckin' fall asleep, I wasn't born yesterday." Martinez complained.

"I know, but I'm not gettin' my ass smoked because of you."

"Me neither." Kimber added, he lowered his own rifle to the ground next to him and layed on his back. Moreau followed soon after, scrunching himself into the tightest space possible, his feet braced against the opposite wall of their little hole.

The night sky above was filled with stars, with how relatively close they were to urban sprawl it was pretty remarkable that the big area of land that was the Narashino maneuvering grounds could have a view like this.

As silence swept over the lines of the men of Dagger Platoon, the cool summer night breeze picked up for but a moment before dying down once more. Forrestal allowed his heavy eyes to drift off to sleep, it was going to be a busy day tomorrow.

* * *

 **AUGUST 18TH 2017, 0800 HOURS, GINZA, TOKYO, JAPAN**

Itami Yōji had gotten up early in the morning, the day had finally arrived. He was riding the subway to Ginza, the convention center wasn't far from there. On his phone he had one of the many fantasy styled mobile games he owned open. He had spent the better part of his train ride clearing a dungeon.

" _Don't think you'll escape me so easily this time, treasure of Alduna!"_ Itami thought to himself as he made his move. There were a lot of mobs attacking him, but he didn't care. He could handle low level monsters like this with ease. Orcs and Goblins were low level creatures, and with Itami's gear it took no more than two attacks to dispatch any that dared attack him.

The train rumbled softly as it made it's way deeper into Tokyo. Soothing background noise as Itami continued to press forward with his challenge. The real largest threat he'd be facing today was the Kobold Knight, the dungeon boss. He was what stood between Itami and all that loot.

When Itami finally reached the final room of the dungeon, he was satisfied. He still had most of his health, and his stamina was looking pretty good. He was in a much better state than any other time he had attempted this boss fight.

He watched as the Kobold Knight was presented on his screen, summoning the mobs it would use as a means to try and slow Itami down. Not today though, Itami had a plan. He was going to try and use his rush skill to eliminate the boss in one go.

The mobs began to surround him, but it was too late, he was ready.

" _The treasure of Alduna is mine, Kobold Knight, there's nothing you can do!"_ Itami said in his head, rather heroically.

His character began to run forward, Itami pressed the icon on his touch screen to activate his skill and… nothing. Itami tapped the icon again, still nothing. Something wasn't right. He began to furiously tap the icon, his game was most definitely not frozen, so why was it not working?

Then it hit him, Itami was washed over with a feeling of dread as he saw what was wrong. His stamina bar was draining, and fast. Something was using magic to lower it beyond the threshold he could use his skill at. He finally took notice of the pair of Battle Fairies circling his character, the blue glow coming off them. He had messed up.

" _No, no, no, no, no, no, not now!"_ Itami yelled in his head, but it was too late. The curse of any mobile game had already taken hold of him. In the span of mere seconds it had taken him to repeatedly tap his skill icon, and for him to realise why it was not working, the big blue box appeared on his screen.

 _Not enough stamina. Would you like to purchase some more?_

With the big microtransaction notification on his screen, Itami's fate was sealed as the mobs descended upon him. With so many of them his health bar was reduced to nothing in an instant. Long after he had managed to hit 'Cancel'.

 _You died._

The message taunted him, big red letters filling the screen as everything faded to black, the Kobold Knight's laughter adding insult to injury. He had been strategically outmaneuvered by the computer. Or, at least, that's what he'd like to tell himself in an attempt to ease the pain, but Itami knew it wasn't true.

"Fucking microtransactions." Itami cursed under his breath as he pressed the lock screen button on his phone.

As he looked up he could see he was getting a few weird looks from the people on the train, and the thought crossed Itami's mind for a moment that maybe he hadn't just been thinking all the things he said to himself. Maybe he had absentmindedly been saying them aloud, after all, he did think he had a pretty good fantasy hero voice.

No matter though, his stop was here, and he could exit the train without further making a spectacle of himself to the public. Not that he particularly cared anyway. He was enjoying himself on his day off and that was all that mattered.

Itami stepped off the train and into the station at Ginza. It was a beautiful August day. Many people were already out and about, getting ready to do their shopping. Itami was ready to join them, though, his shopping would seem much more unconventional in comparison.

As he walked through the station he felt his phone buzz. He looked down at the black screen as it came to life with color, he had received a notification about the convention.

"Oh no way, a last minute booking! That circle's going to be there now? That's amazing.."

He allowed himself to become fully distracted, absent mindedly walking along and looking at the phone screen. Apparently he had missed a few other notifications while he was playing his game too.

Itami was getting more and more excited about the convention, it was going to be great. He hoped he was carrying enough money on him, but decided that, if he didn't have enough to buy everything he wanted, he wouldn't really mind tapping into the savings in his bank account. This was what was most important after all.

"I wonder if they're going to have the new Mei-Co-" Itami was abruptly cut off as he felt a terrible stinging pain in his head, at the same time he could feel himself be knocked off balance. There was no stopping it, he was going backwards, right onto his rear. Just before he impacted with the ground Itami caught glimpse of what had happened.

He had walked right into a pole.

There was another shrap pain as Itami hit the floor, ass first. It traveled up his spine, and then into the base of his neck, he had definitely hit his tailbone. But that wasn't all, he was still going. Itami's legs went up into the air as he continued to fall backwards, the back of his head smacking right into the floor.

Everything was a blur, Itami was seeing stars… well, not stars.

He was definitely seeing something?

He wasn't sure what it was though.

A girl? There was a forest all around. She appeared to be playing some kind of instrument, he couldn't tell what it was exactly though. Then he noticed the most peculiar thing about her, aside from her absolutely gorgeous blonde hair, it was… her ears. Her ears were long and pointed.

" _An elf…?"_ Itami could feel himself reaching his hands for his face, but couldn't see them. He tried to rub his eyes and everything went dark for a moment. When he took his hands away from his face the scene had changed.

He was in front of a waterfall, which was pouring some of the clearest and most beautiful water Itami had ever laid his eyes upon, in a manner of speaking at least, none of this was real obviously. Here too he could see another girl, much shorter than the one in his last vision, but she appeared to be wielding magic of some kind. At least, that's what Itami would call it, she had a long wooden staff raised and was levitating several small objects.

" _Mage..?"_ Itami's head was really hurting, he could feel the pounding intensifying as each wave of pain washed over him. Was he dying? He really hoped not. It'd probably be one of the most embarrassing ways he could die, smashing his skull into the floor after walking headfirst into a support beam.

He wanted to push himself up, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He could feel his hands pushing against the cold tile floor of the train station, but still his sight would not return to him. He felt a pair of hands grabbing him, but could see no one. He sucked in air as he felt another wave of pain come and go, his head ached badly. He raised an arm to grab his forhead, and as it made contact he was once again taken to another scene.

This time it was dark, the other two scenes had been relatively colorful and vibrant. Quite happy looking in fact. This one was different however, much different. Itami had no idea if he was physically in any of these scenes he was visiting, but he sure hoped not. Standing before him was a third girl, and in her hands was an axe, the size of which was far larger than one Itami would have ever handled before in his life. He wanted to call it a Halberd, like one wielded by a medieval infantryman, or a low level grunt in an RPG. But it was very clearly something else entirely.

The girl had an almost sinister smile on her face as she began to twirl the weapon with great speed, much more than should be possible with a weapon of that size. Her attire was what really got Itami's attention though. Black and red, with lots of frills, and a bow atop her head. Just what was going on? Having spun the weapon around a few more times, the girl leaped into the air, illuminated by the full moon behind her for a moment before disappearing over the edge of the plateau they were standing on.

" _A...gothic loli...WHAT?!"_

Itami suddenly shot upright. He could see again. Around him stood a very concerned looking crowd of commuters.

"Sir, are you alright?" A man kneeling next to him asked. He was holding onto Itami's shoulders.

"Oh… uh, yeah, yes I am. Thank you." Itami replied, somewhat embarrassed.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" The man asked, holding up a selection of fingers on his right hand.

"Three." Itami replied, thankfully it seemed he was still in possession of his cognitive abilities.

The man looked relieved, his face relaxed and he let out a sigh. "Be more careful friend, you should watch your step, rather than bury your face in your phone all the time."

"Haha, yes, I will." Itami laughed. The crowd had begun to disperse, the show was over.

The man helped Itami up to his feet, and Itami was back on his way.

While this wasn't exactly how Itami had planned he'd be starting what was possibly his best vacation day ever, he didn't mind. At least it would make it memorable, and there was no lasting harm. The pain in his head had already subsided. Itami did decide however, maybe he should take a break from fantasy games for a while. If they were that far at the forefront of his mind that he was having visions of NPC game girls when he was knocked out, maybe there was such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Itami placed his phone into his pocket and continued walking through Ginza station, making his way towards the exit that would allow him to have the shortest walk to the convention center. Something had begun to feel sort of… off however.

The large bustling crowds that were in the station not minutes prior had seemingly thinned out. Itami realised it was a weekday, and a little early in the morning. But this was ridiculous. And while the convention center was really the only thing of importance in this direction, the fact that there weren't swarms of Otaku was even more dumbfounding, something Itami just couldn't buy.

" _More loot for me."_ He decided in his head however. Shorter lines were fine by him, and he'd have prime selection at any of the stalls if there were less people.

But then it started.

First it was a scream, causing Itami to look up.

That was odd.

Then another, and another, the yelling and screaming was getting louder and louder.

What was going on?

Even people in the station had begun to scream and yell. Which confused Itami, he couldn't… hear anything out of the ordinary before the screaming started? What was going on? He saw a young couple ahead of him, their faces pressed up against the window. The woman appeared absolutely terrified as her partner held her close.

It was then Itami realised just what it was they were looking at.

Something streaked across the sky, it was fast, like a blur. He couldn't catch a good glimpse of it. Suddenly there was another, and another, and another. All blitzing past his field of view from the window.

" _Was that…?"_

There was a moment of silence, nothing happened. And then… it came back into view. There was no mistaking what that was, the image had been engraved into Itami's mind for a long long time.

That was a dragon.

A real dragon.

There was more than one, and they were flying all around, darting between the buildings. Itami couldn't believe his eyes. The thought briefly crossed his mind that maybe he had hit his head too hard. But, if this was all in his head, then why was everyone else screaming and yelling?

"No…" Itami said in a low voice as he backed up a few steps from the window.

"No, no, no…" He had turned his body and was making his way towards the station exit, faster and faster, picking up speed as he started to break out into a jog, turning into a run, and then a sprint.

"NO, NO, NO! THIS ISN'T GOOD!" Itami yelled as he burst through the station doors. The world outside was chaos. Absolute chaos. He looked up, and he could see what he had feared. More and more dragons flying everywhere. Not only that but there were large black plumes of smoke rising into the sky in every direction he looked. Screaming, yelling, the sounds of police and other emergency service sirens blaring from all around.

"NOT GOOD! NOT GOOD AT ALL!" Itami took off running again. This was real. There was no denying that. He practically jumped over a railing as he got into the street. There were crowds of people running every which way as Dragons, which he could now see had men riding atop them, swooped in low. Their riders using spears they were wielding to attack people.

"IF I DON'T GET THERE SOON THE EXPO IS GOING TO BE CANCELLED!" Itami yelled as he vaulted over another railing.

* * *

 _Fifteen minutes earlier..._

 **DATE UNKNOWN, 0745 HOURS, ALNUS HILL, IMPERIAL TERRITORY**

The Army of the Empire marched in formation up Alnus hill towards the Gate. The Auxiliaries were at the front. The Orcs, Goblins, Ogres, and Beastmen. Close behind them was Count Formal's legion. It was finally time.

The brave Dragon Riders had been the first to head into the Gate. They would be acting as reconnaissance and as a shock force against any hostile forces waiting on the other side of the Gate.

As Remus Remiliosis watched the Auxilaries step into the unknown, with his own men not far behind, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. He had wanted to be an Imperial soldier since he was but a young boy. This wasn't his first campaign in the name of the Empire, but it would most certainly be his most important. It was his time to carve out a piece of history for himself.

"Steady, Remus Remiliosis." Said a voice as a horse rode up next to his own.

It was Maron Mal Macaron.

"Of course, sir." Remus responded, he was holding his ornate helmet tucked between his left arm and his torso. "It is with great pride I will lead my men into battle today."

"Of course." Maron nodded. "Then the time has come. Let us partake in our share of the glory."

Remus had been so lost in thought he had not noticed that the Gate was upon them now, they were entering.

It was a mystical feeling as they crossed the threshold. The morning sunlight that had washed over them not minutes prior was replaced by a cool blue, as if it was the night. The Army kept it's formation, remarkably, as there was nothing to guide them once they were inside the Gate except for the dim light that lined the floor.

Remus looked around in awe at the beauty and splendor of the Gate's nothing. An abyss that stared deep into his very soul. Maron Mal Macaron gave him a smile and a nod before taking off further up the line to check on another Centurion.

Remus's men marched faithfully behind him all the while.

As Remus put his helmet on, he rode on in silence. Soon they would be on the other side, and whatever awaited them, they would be upon it.

Minutes passed. Minutes of deafening silence. The lights of the floor danced along all the while.

But soon, Remus noticed, there was a light that was far greater. One to his front. An exit?

His suspicions were confirmed as the light got brighter and closer. Sunlight.

Soon the ground beneath his horse was replaced with a strange material he had never seen before. It was a sickening black. And then… awe struck wonder.

As Remus rode out into the sunlight, as far as he could see were massive structures that stretched into the very heavens themselves. Made not of stone and marble, but seemingly glass and mirrors. All along the ground before him, no more was there dirt or cobble, it had all been replaced by this black material. Volcanic stone perhaps? No, it had no shine, but then what?

The Auxiliaries had already formed their ranks, taking up the space to the front. Behind them Remus could see Count Formal and Maron Mal Macaron atop their horses. Remus raised his sword, ordering his Centuria forward and to form a shield wall.

Beyond the front of the Auxiliaries he could see plain as day, people. Humans. Definitely humans.

They were… different however. All of them had skin that was somewhat pale looking, and dark colors of hair to boot. Remus had never seen humans like this before. On top of that the way they were dressed was absolutely the most strange thing he had ever seen. Not a single one of the males was clad in any sort of armor at all. Simply strange cloth garments. The women as well were simply bizarre. Were some of them wearing trousers? What was this? Not a single one of any of the people that lay before them appeared to be warriors at all.

All of them simply stared, unmoving, as more and more Legionaries poured through the Gate behind Remus.

" _Fight."_ Remus thought.

The Auxillaries were growing restless, it did not appear they would hold formation much longer. Still, not a single one of these strange people would move, they simple continued to stare at the Army.

" _Run."_ Remus was confused.

An Immunes came up next to Count Formal carrying a horn, waiting for the go ahead.

" _Do something, you fools."_ Remus grew angry. Were they stupid? Did they want to die?

Count Formal raised his sword and the Immunes blew into his horn.

The slaughter was upon them.

The Auxillaries rushed forth, brandishing all sorts of terrible weaponry. Swords, hammers, axes, some with impressive physical strength used just their bare hands.

Remus watched as an Ogre ripped a man in two.

The screaming began as the crowds of people began to scatter in every which way. Not that it would help.

Dragon Riders began to swoop down to skewer them as they attempted to flee.

A woman was trampled under foot as two Orcs charged down a group of people.

" _So be it."_ Remus thought to himself. " _Such cowardice will not go unpunished."_ He raised his sword and gave a mighty yell. His Centura charged, others doing the same. The battle had begun.

As Remus charged forward on his horse, slicing a fleeing man across his back, he smiled. This Imperial conquest would be an easy one. A day to be remembered in the Empire's history for a thousand years, and he would be part of it.

* * *

 **AUGUST 18TH 2017, 0830 HOURS, NARASHINO MANEUVERING GROUNDS, JGSDF CAMP NARASHINO, CHIBA PREFECTURE, JAPAN**

For the men of Dagger Platoon it had been a boring morning. As boring as it could be when you were tailing after a unit of Japanese Type 90 tanks that was. But still pretty boring. The Japanese armor had arrived at around 0600 hours, and began conducting fire and maneuver exercises.

The Japanese and American paratroopers would advance with the tanks every time they pushed up. That was how it had gone at first at least. Now they were just watching the tanks as they cleared out a section of the field in front of them. They had been for the last half hour at least.

Kimber was sitting relaxed in the driver's seat of the Humvee, waiting desperately for the order to advance. He had begun to half sing half hum to the tune of "You're The Best" by Joe Esposito, alternating between the two. Slamming his hands down on the steering wheel as he did so.

Forrestal in the meantime had both of his legs hanging outside the doorframe of the passenger's side. His M4 was held across his lap by his right hand, and had his left hand resting on the Humvee's radio transceiver. He watched absentmindedly as the Japanese tanks moved, covering each other as they did so, turrets swiveling around to look for incoming threats.

To the rear of the vehicle Martinez was standing up, resting the M249 on the roof of the driver's cabin. All things considered he appeared to be having a good time. While no more enthusiastic looking than he usually was, he had expressed his interest in this being his first time working with tanks. Even if they had been sitting here for nearly half an hour now, he didn't seem to mind.

Finally there was Moreau, he was slumped over in the rear. At a quick glance you might think he was catching some more sleep, but no, he wasn't. No, Moreau, ever the genius, had managed to bring his DS with him. Buried somewhere deep in his Ruck no doubt he had taken the time to carefully hide it. Unprofessional? Sure. Did anyone really blame him? No. The rest of the men in the Humvee were quite content to leave him that way. At least he had something to do in these moments of nothing.

"Fight 'till you drop! Never stop!" Kimber yelled from his seat, bobbing his head. "Until you reach the top!"

Something was changing though, it wasn't very noticeable at first, Martinez was the first to pick up on it.

"Forrestal, the tanks stopped." Martinez said as he let go of the weapon, shifting to his right slightly to lean over the side of the vehicle.

"I haven't gotten anything about advancing to meet them yet." Came the reply, Forrestal was looking up at the blue sky.

"They've been stopped for a while now."

"So what, Mouse?" Moreau interjected, his chin buried down in his vest as he focused on his screen.

"Is that really going to stick?" Martinez asked, he almost sounded dissapointed.

"Yes." Came a chorus of replies from three distinct voices.

Martinez sighed. "Whatever, I dunno man. They're not moving."

"So what? Just relax, bro." Kimber replied. He got out of the drivers side, walking around the side of the Humvee. His M4 was hanging in it's sling across his chest. He grabbed onto one of the wooden slats running up the side of the Humvee which acted as a rail for the flatbed. "Gimmie' an energy bar, will ya'?"

Moreau put his DS down for a moment, grabbing the ruck next to him and pulling it over. He opened it up and fished through one of the pockets for a moment. Finally finding what he was looking for, he pulled one out. "Heads up." He said tossing it towards Kimber.

It missed, hitting against the inside wall. Kimber pulled himself a little further up, grabbing another wooden slat, allowing himself to lean over the rail and pick the energy bar off the floor of the vehicle. He then slipped over the side, having retrieved his snack.

"How do you eat those things?" Forrestal called out. "I can't stand them."

"What? Come on bro. It's Soldier Fuel, SOF approved." Kimber said in a mock tone of voice as he slid back into the driver's seat, ripping the wrapper open. He took a bite out of the bar, making sure to make lots of exaggerated 'Mmm' noises.

Suddenly there was a very loud noise that caused every soldier in the Humvee to pause and look.

Engines.

Tank engines.

Tank engines getting into high speed.

The Japanese Type 90s had suddenly formed up and were hauling proverbial ass to the West.

"Whoa. Hey! Where the fuck are they going?!" Kimber yelled out.

"Incoming!" Martinez yelled, the first time they had heard him do so. Which was definitely cause for alarm.

It took a few moments for them to see what he was referring to, a flight of four JGSDF AH-1S Cobras was coming in low, also travelling West. They looked armed to the teeth.

"The fuck's going on?!" Moreau asked, he had pushed himself up to his feet and was staring up as the helicopters flew past.

"Getting on the horn with Falkner now, stand by." Forrestal said as he picked up the radio transceiver. "Dagger 2-1, This is Dagger 2-3. Come in, over?"

There was a moment of silence before a reply came. "Dagger 2-3, this is Dagger 2-1. Send traffic, over."

"Dagger 2-1, Interrogative, did you just see what we saw? Over."

Another pause of silence before a reply. "Dagger 2-3, Affirmative. Dagger 2-1 Actual is currently trying to get a hold of Dagger Actual. Wait five, out."

Forrestal put the radio transceiver down, the word would come down soon. "Falkner's trying to get a hold of the LT to find out what's going on, we'll see what happens!" He yelled out.

"Copy that." Moreau replied, he sat back down in the flatbed of the Humvee.

"What do you think's going on?" Kimber asked as he was finishing up his Soldier Fuel.

"Not a fucking clue, bro." Forrestal brought both of his legs into the Humvee, resting his right foot on the doorframe.

The silence was deafening while they waited for word back. Seconds seemed to take hours, minutes years. The tension in the air just grew thicker and thicker. Kimber started to rap his hands against the steering wheel to a beat he made up in his head.

After a few minutes passed the radio crackled to life.

"All Dagger units this net. This is Dagger Actual. Mount up and proceed West to the Nihondaigaku Gate, we have orders from Halberd Actual. We will be forming a convoy on the Narita Highway and begin heading West towards Tokyo. More details to follow, radio check and standby. Over."

"Dagger Actual, Dagger 1-2. We're Oscar Mike. Over."

"Ah shit, what the fuck's going on?" Kimber asked as he started the Humvee up.

"Dagger Actual. Dagger 1-3. We have you loud and clear, we're Oscar Mike. Over." The radio traffic continued.

"Not a fucking clue." Forrestal then poked his head out of the doorframe. "Hey you two, get ready, we're moving out!" He yelled back to Moreau and Martinez.

"Dagger Actual, this is Dagger 2-1. Wilco. We're Oscar Mike. Over."

Martinez grabbed his M249 from on top of the cab and got down into the flatbed.

"Dagger Actual. Dagger 2-2. Oscar Mike. Over."

Dagger 2-1 and Dagger 2-2 sped past, Kimber started to pull after them as Forrestal got on the radio.

"Dagger Actual, Dagger 2-3. We're Oscar Mike. Over." Forrestal said into the transceiver as they started bumping across the grass.

The remaining section of the platoon went through their radio procedures, and they were all on the move for the Nihondaigaku Gate at the West of the maneuvering grounds. The only noise for the longest time was the roar of the engine and the sound of the suspension doing it's best to work with the terrain.

Eventually some more Humvees came into view on their left hand side. They started to pull in close. Forrestal pointed across Kimber's chest. "Cutlass is coming up on our nine. Watch it."

"Copy." Kimber nodded, he was deadly serious. All of his attention set on driving.

"All Dagger Units this net. This is Dagger Actual." The radio crackled to life once more. "Alright gentlemen. Tokyo is under attack. Orders from Halberd Actual are that we'll be following the highway all the way to Tokyo with the Japanese. Our mission is to secure the U.S Embassy and then help the Japanese set up a defensive line. Break."

The net suddenly exploded with activity as everyone began trying to talk at once.

"Tokyo is under attack?! What the fuck?!" Kimber yelled out.

"Fucking hell." Forrestal slammed his fist against the door frame.

Dagger Actual keyed his mic a few times, the radio traffic died down.

"Gentlemen, I'm as surprised as you to be hearing this. But we have a mission. Arguing over the net is not going to help us accomplish that mission. Over."

"Dagger Actual, Dagger 3-1. Interrogative. Enemy force size? Over."

"Dagger 3-1, Dagger Actual. Will provide updates as information comes through. Wait two, out."

"Jesus fucking Christ dude, what the fuck's going on? You think it was the Chinese?" Kimber said.

"Not a fucking clue."

Eventually Ballista had linked up with the other two Platoons and they were making their way onto the highway. The long line of Humvees speeding as fast as they could behind their Japanese counterparts.

"All Dagger Units this net. Dagger Actual" The radio crackled to life once more. "Halberd Actual confirms to me that current estimated enemy force size is above 100,000. Over."

"WHAT?!"

Moreau poked his head into the cabin from the rear. "I'm sorry, did he just say what I think he said?"

Forrestal picked up his transceiver mic before the net exploded with activity again. "Dagger Actual, Dagger 2-3. Interrogative. Is it the Chinese? Over."

"Negative 2-3." He received a reply instantly. "Halberd Actual confirms to me that enemy force composition appears to be… otherworldly in nature. Over."

"Say again, Actual? Otherworldly?" Dagger 1-3 cut in.

"Affirmative, 1-3. As far as command knows, at approximately 0800 hours local time, a Gate appeared suddenly in Ginza district Tokyo. Hostile forces have exited through this Gate into Tokyo and are currently wreaking havoc across the city. Civilian casualties are high."

"Dagger Actual, Dagger 2-1." Falkner entered the conversation. "Interrogative. What are we dealing with? Over."

"Dagger 2-1, Dagger Actual. Hostile forces consists nearly entirely of infantry and horse mounted cavalry. Reports are coming in of hostile air forces also present, riding dragons."

"Bruh what?! This is bullshit! Fucking dragons?!" Kimber yelled as they continued to speed down the highway. They were starting to see large black plumes of smoke filling the sky in the distance. Traffic was picking up too as it seemed many were fleeing the city.

Forrestal was shocked into silence.

"Gentlemen. Listen up," Lieutenant Diaz began. "I can tell what you're thinking, I'm thinking the same thing. We are about to head into a city full of a numerically superior enemy force, and are being asked to repel that numerically superior enemy force. But let me remind you, gentlemen. We are Airborne. Paratroopers. Fighting numerically superior enemy forces is what we do best. If I remember correctly there is no time when a Paratrooper is more happy than when he's surrounded by the enemy. There are Americans in there that need our help. Not only that, there are Japanese Civilians in there that need our help. These assholes are slaughtering them indiscriminately, I don't know about all of you, but that doesn't fly with me. We're going to get in there, and we're going to teach these fuckers that they messed with the wrong city, the wrong country, and most importantly the wrong fucking world, and we're going to do it the 'All American' way, hooah?"

All the radios seemed to key in at the same time.

"Hooah!"

"That's what I like to hear boys, you wanted to show the Japanese how real Paratroopers fight. Let's show them. Actual Out."

Any sense of fear that might have possessed the soldiers in the Humvee quickly melted away.

A new feeling began to swell up in it's place. Slowly at first, but then quickly, more violently.

Rage. Anger. Hatred.

It wasn't just in Forrestal's Humvee either. It wasn't even limited to Dagger Platoon. All across Delta Company, as they made their way towards Tokyo, the men were worked up into a frenzy.

Seeing the rising smoke coming from Tokyo as they got closer and closer did nothing to help dissuade their rage either.

Whoever these assholes were, the ones from beyond the Gate, the ones currently slaughtering their way across Tokyo?

They had kicked a hornets nest.

And as military assets, both Japanese and American poured in from all directions in the area surrounding Tokyo, the invaders did not realise it yet, but they most certainly had initiated what would go down as the most famous day in the Empire's history.

Thus, the men of Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment would fight there. In Tokyo, and beyond.


	2. 2 This We'll Defend

**Chapter Two: This We'll Defend**

" _I'm proud I'm allowed to be one of the crowd of the parachute infantry! Fighting men are we! Fighting for our liberty!" -_ 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment Song

 **AUGUST 18TH 2017, 0900 HOURS, YOKOTA AIRBASE, FUSSA TOKYO, JAPAN**

"How're we looking?" First Lieutenant Michael Eversmann asked from his position in the cockpit of the AH-64E.

"Good to go." Responded his co-pilot. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Malcolm Atkinson as he put on his helmet.

"Copy that." Eversmann responded as he put on his own helmet. Their helicopter had just finished being armed and fueled.

As it turned out, they wouldn't be doing the operation they had originally thought they would today. All training operations were cancelled, this was for real. Tokyo was under attack and had been for at least the last hour. The enemy had shown up, seemingly out of nowhere, when a gate had materialized out of nowhere in the middle of the Ginza district in Tokyo.

As a result the JGSDF was woefully unprepared, and local authorities were being quickly overwhelmed. Early reconnaissance was reporting the enemy formation was at least a field army in strength.

Under normal circumstances, against any conventional army, Tokyo would be lost. At this point the Americans and JSDF would have been trying to construct defensive lines to contain the threat and fight back. This was no conventional army though. These men were wielding spears and swords, riding horses, and admittedly dragons, into battle. No conventional army indeed. Reports coming in from police units on the scene indicated that firearms were very effective in dispatching the enemy, but they didn't have the numbers.

That said, it was clear this enemy should not be treated lightly. They were spreading out, and fast. Civilian casualties were escalating by the minute, they had to be in the hundreds by now at the very least. Worse news for the American Forces, the enemy had apparently already pushed to the American embassy in Tokyo. The Marine Security Guards were doing their best to defend, but they wouldn't be able to hold forever, it was a full blown siege.

A QRF involving elements from the 325th Infantry Regiment was already en-route, but they were travelling by land and were still at the very least 30-45 minutes out from being able to reach the Embassy.

The airspace wasn't clear either, which was problematic. The 'Dragon Riders' as they were being referred to were harassing any rotary wing aircraft who loitered around for too long, and were doing their damndest to take out fixed wing assets as well. Not that they stood much of a chance. But it meant aerial insertions were a no go.

So it was coming down to men like Eversmann and Atkinson. They'd be able to defend themselves, and provide support for the Embassy. With any luck, the Air Force would have the airspace mopped up in time that more dedicated CAS could be on station.

They had their clearance from the ATC, and the engines of the AH-64E began to whine as they came to life. The rotors above slowly picking up speed. Eversmann slowly lifted the aircraft up into the air and started forward, hovering over the taxiway. There were other helicopters doing the same. In front of him, Atkinson was at work in the co-pilot's seat making sure all of the weapons systems were operational.

They were carrying a full payload, sixteen AGM-114N Hellfire missiles and more 30mm ammunition for the M230E1 chaingun than they would reasonably be expected to expend. All of which would be used to blow these otherworldly invaders back to wherever it was that they came from.

They had their aerial corridor, forming up on the flight lead Eversmann throttled up gaining speed. It was going to be a relatively lengthy flight to Tokyo, as precious minutes went by that meant more time the enemy was rampaging across Tokyo relatively unopposed.

But as they left Yokota behind them, tearing across the sky like a pack of angry wolves on the hunt, Eversmann was relatively calm. When the alarm was first raised that Tokyo was under attack, and he could see the broadcasts coming in on television of the carnage taking place mere miles away, he was furious. He allowed himself to be worked up into the gung-ho frenzy that followed, as pilots rushed for aircraft, and ground crews worked frantically to load helicopters that were not expected to be used today with full armaments.

But now? Now that Eversmann was in the air, and well on his way towards the fight. He was calm. He realised this was serious. Tokyo was currently under occupation, and the men and women currently besieged inside the U.S Embassy were going to be relying on him to fly his aircraft to the best of his ability to save them.

Not that Eversmann wasn't used to being put into the spotlight. The UCONN graduate was a football star during his college days, and quite the good one at that he would often brag to his coworkers. He could've gone pro, he'd often add, but instead he had elected to follow in his father's foot steps, joining the Army to fly helicopters. His old man had done so during the Gulf War, and while Eversmann had been to Afghanistan twice, he could tell this was different. This was probably going to be the most important engagement he ever took part in.

For now though, all he could do was stay himself with as much mental preparation as he could. He needed to focus on flying his helicopter. The U.S Embassy workers, Marine Security Group, and citizens of Tokyo were relying on him.

* * *

 **AUGUST 18TH 2017, 0915 HOURS, GINZA, TOKYO, JAPAN**

Itami ran across the road after a group of people ran in the opposite direction. The city was in complete chaos, seemingly everywhere he went there were men armed with swords, or monstrous demi-human creatures waiting to attack anyone they found. If you were to stay in the open for too long a dragon would swoop down from the heavens and it's rider would kill you where you stood. He had been running around, simply trying to stay alive for the better part of the last hour.

The saying 'It was like a videogame' came to mind, however, to Itami this was very much untrue. While the men running around most certainly did resemble grunts from any of the number of fantasy games he had played throughout his life, even an otaku like himself could tell that this was no game.

If anything, this was more akin to a nightmare. The bodies of the dead and dying were everywhere. Itami had to stop himself from coming around the corner of a building when he caught the glimpse of some beast of a creature that stood a good three feet taller than Itami smashing a man into the side of a building repeatedly.

The sound of a woman screaming caused Itami to turn his head, there was a group of people running for their lives from god knows what and she had fallen over.

"I-I'm sorry!" A man in a business suit yelled out as he ripped his wrist from her grasp, running off after the others, leaving her behind.

She seemed to go into shock, unable to believe she was abandoned so easily. She brought her hands to her face as she couldn't help but cry uncontrollably. Was this really how she was going to die?

" _Goddammit!"_ Itami thought to himself as he spurred himself into action, despite everything, despite being a lazy otaku, despite being in the military simply as a way to support his hobby, despite being as non-confrontational as possible, there was no denying it. He had a duty to act, and he was going to fulfill it to the best of his ability.

Itami rushed across the street as fast as he could, grabbing onto the safety rail of the other side and flinging himself over it with all his strength. He landed quite gracefully, all of his training had prepared him well. He rolled across the ground, pushing himself up to his knee and then taking off once more.

As he ran towards the woman he looked around, no threats in his immediate surroundings. Though the sounds of battle and rampage were ever present all around him. This was good though, it meant he could get her out of harm's way with relative safety.

He slowed down, dropping into a crouch as he grabbed the woman's shoulders, clearly giving her a shock as she whipped her head around with a petrified look on her face. She must have thought he was going to be some sort of attacker.

"It's going to be alright, I'm here to help!" Itami tried to be as comforting as possible.

"W-who are you?!" She yelled back, still in shock.

"Look! Just come with me if you want to live! We have to get out of here!"

"Look out!" A new voice interrupted.

Itami looked up. Standing over the both of them was a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, raising his service pistol into the air.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The officer fired his weapon three times, causing the woman Itami was trying to help to scream out, along with two other women that were behind the police officer whom Itami hadn't noticed until now.

As Itami turned his head he could see what the officer had fired upon, a dragon flew back up into the air, flailing about. On the street nearby lay a man clad in metal armor with strange olive skin and dark hair, his helmet had skittered away a few feet.

He had been, well traditionally one would call it 'dishorsed', but, he hadn't been riding a horse had he? Itami settled on 'disdragoned' and was satisfied. Of course, he didn't really have the time to be thinking of the correct terminology for being forcibly removed from one's aerial mount, as suddenly there was a mighty yell.

The rider was down, but he most certainly was not out. He had pushed himself off the ground and was rushing forward in a frenzy of rage and anger, surely at least his ribs had to have broke from such a fall? He didn't seem to care though, he was going right for the police officer, who had frozen up, not expecting the man to get up and rush at him after what had just happened.

" _Fuck! Why couldn't you have just stayed down!?"_ Itami thought, rather annoyed.

Just as the soldier was about to be upon the police officer, Itami pushed off the ground from his position next to him and tackled the soldier's side. He let out a cry of pain as Itami impacted him, pressing into his broken ribs.

The two hit the pavement and a short grappling match ensued. The soldier never stood a chance, not with his wounds. Itami had managed to force himself on top of him, wrapping his arm around the neck of the soldier he yanked him upward. Instinctively the soldier began to try and rip Itami's arm from off his neck, but it was futile.

Itami used his free arm to grab the dagger the soldier had been wielding off the ground next to him. As the soldier continued to struggle to free himself, digging into Itami's arm with his nails, kicking and thrashing about, Itami tightened his arm around the soldier's neck before adjusting his grip on the dagger. There was an apparent pause as the dagger entered into the soldier's neck, Itami loosening his grip slightly. The soldier's body went limp as the blood from his carotid artery began to spurt out, some getting on Itami's face and shirt.

The two women behind the police officer took a step back as Itami let the limp body fall from his grasp, sliding down his chest and falling over onto the pavement. He tried his best to flash a somewhat heroic smile, like a manga hero would in such scenarios, but it didn't seem to help. They looked terrified.

"Who are you?" The police officer asked, he had regained sense of himself.

"Second Lieutenant Itami Yōji, JGSDF." Itami replied as he looked down at his shirt. It was ruined, the Mei-Con logo covered in blood. Letting out a frustrated sigh he wiped the dagger off on the front of his shirt and pushed himself to his feet.

"I'm sorry for not acting, it all happened so fast and-" The officer started.

"Don't worry about." Itami shook his head. "It happens to all of us at some point or another."

The woman on the ground was still sobbing, though less so. Itami walked over to her offering his hand down once more. "Miss, we really do need to get out of here, please come with me."

She looked up, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Y-yes, you're right." She accepted Itami's hand and he pulled her to her feet. She was in a ragged state of affairs, that was for sure. One of the heels of her shoes had broken off and she was having trouble standing straight.

Suddenly, loud noises, yelling and screaming were getting closer and closer. Itami and the police officer exchanged looks. They didn't have time to leave, they needed to get out of sight. Itami placed the woman he had helped up's arm over the back of his neck and began to help her walk. The police officer was directing the other two into the building they were in front of. The ground floor windows were smashed out, but it looked like it would be a relatively safe place to hide, for the moment at least.

As the noise grew closer and closer Itami led the woman to a reception desk, they were in a lobby of some sort. He helped her get behind it and onto the floor where she crawled underneath. The desk was a sort of semi-circle in shape, so in theory it would provide them fairly decent concealment for the time being.

"Stay very quiet." Itami mouthed, placing a finger over his lips. The police officer was reloading his firearm incase they had to defend themselves.

The noise got louder and louder and louder until it was upon them. There was a thunderous roar as they could hear what must have sounded like hundreds of horses riding past at full speed. That wasn't all though, there was… something else?

Itami couldn't identify the other noise, and so slowly peeked his head up over the desk. He immediately withdrew back down. Trailing behind the cavalry that had gone by was a group of demi-human creatures, each one standing at least seven feet tall. Their sickening green and purple skin smeared red with blood. The one Itami had caught glimpse of was carrying a woman, torn in two, her upper half strung across the back of it's neck like some sort of pelt. It was hitting her legs against the pavement as it walked along, creating a sick snapping noise each time. He could only pray it hadn't seen him.

The look on Itami's face told the police officer everything he needed to know. Their position in the building probably wouldn't be as safe as they had once thought.

"What's out there?" He mouthed to Itami.

Itami simply shook his head in response. All the heroic stoicism had left him after seeing that.

"Imperial Palace." The police officer mouthed. "That's where civilians are being gathered for evacuation, we should head there."

"Alright. Slip out the back. You definitely want to slip out the back." Itami mouthed back to him.

The police officer nodded, stalking off in a crouch. He directed the two women to follow him. Itami helped the third woman out from under the desk, slipping her arm over his shoulder once more. It was going to be a long day before this was over.

" _And it sure as hell is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better…"_

* * *

 **AUGUST 18TH 2017, 0930 HOURS, CHUOU, TOKYO, JAPAN**

The drive towards Tokyo was tense. The men of Delta Company watched the thick black smoke that reached into the heavens grow closer and closer, not that many, if anyone in the unit would have been around to see it, but it invoked images of the Gulf War in the minds of many.

The toll road the Americans and Japanese forces were rolling down was completely barren. No traffic was heading into Tokyo anymore. On the opposite side, there was an innumerable amount of civilians walking away from Tokyo as fast as they could. Cars were a no go, packed in bumper to bumper.

The wide open spaces of the countryside and outskirts of Tokyo had eventually begun to give way to taller and taller structures. As the convoy made its way into the city proper the men were on high alert. They didn't know what they were going to run into.

"What a mess." Martinez said as they rolled past another group of civilians walking up the highway.

"Someone'll pick them up eventually. It's better they're getting out of here." Forrestal replied.

The convoy was making good time, the Japanese were headed to defend the Imperial Palace which was being used as an evacuation center for civilians trapped inside the city. Delta Company would be breaking off to fan out into the city and secure the U.S Embassy and it's immediate surrounding area.

There was a thunderous roar as two JASDF F-4EJ Kai aircraft zoomed overhead, breaking the sound barrier with a loud boom. Off to join the fight themselves.

"Yeah! Get some!" Moreau yelled from the back of the Humvee. He hadn't shut up until recently about the enemy they might be facing once they made initial contact. He was envisioning knights in shining armor on horseback, dragons and wyverns, mages and wizards.

Thankfully, no such reports of 'mages and wizards' had come in over the net. These assholes were already apparently able to just appear out of thin air, the last thing Forrestal wanted to have to deal with was enemy combatants who could wield literal otherworldly forces and turn him into a frog or something.

Kimber meanwhile, was extremely mad. Which was rare for Forrestal to see, usually he was such a laid back guy. He had been gripping the steering wheel so tightly his left arm made a crack when he finally moved it, his joints having started to get stiff.

Perhaps it was a good thing for him to be so angry was Forrestal's line of reasoning. People were dying right now, and for at least a little longer, there wouldn't be much they could do about it.

"Whoa, check it out." Forrestal could hear Martinez shifting around in the back. He checked over his shoulder to see what was going on. Martinez was pointing towards the sky, up the road. All across the city skyline there were small explosions going off. The air battle for Tokyo was in full swing.

There was a stream of tracer fire cutting across the sky as an AH-1S Cobra engaged some aerial targets, Forrestal couldn't see exactly what though. It couldn't be anything good, that was for sure, but he still wanted to see. As he craned his head around he finally caught a glimpse.

An object was falling towards the Earth, it had crumpled into an odd shape as it did so. As it tumbled over and over, eventually impacting with the side of a building and sending a spray of broken glass outwards, Forrestal didn't realise what it was until it's wings unfurled. It then disappeared further down between two buildings, falling to Earth and out of sight.

A dragon. A real dragon.

The Lieutenant wasn't bullshitting when he said they were reporting dragons.

Things suddenly got a whole lot more real for Forrestal.

The Humvee suddenly jerked to a stop. Forrestal was about to yell something at Kimber when the radio burst to life.

"All Dagger Units this net." Speak of the devil. "We're breaking off here with Cutlass. Halberd and Ballista are going to be proceeding to the Imperial Palace with the Japanese, things are getting pretty dicey over there. Over."

Forrestal watched as he could see Lieutenant Diaz's Humvee break off from the convoy and head for an exit ramp. Slowly each vehicle in the platoon began to follow suit.

"Heads up, this is it." Forrestal called to the back of the vehicle as he readied his M4. He placed his right boot up against the doorframe of the Humvee and shouldered the weapon, ready to take aim at a moment's notice.

"Copy that." Moreau replied. He pushed himself up off his ass and onto one knee, resting his rifle on the wooden slats that ran up the right side of the Humvee, holding on with his left. Martinez did the same on the other side of the vehicle, resting the SAW and holding on with one hand. They wouldn't be able to fire effectively like this on the move, but it was better than falling over.

As the Humvee in front of them pulled out of the formation and towards the exit ramp Kimber followed suit. He eased out and after them, adjusting his own M4 which was resting next to him, pulling it closer to him in case he'd have to fire.

Forrestal gave him a punch on the shoulder to get his attention. "You good, bro?"

"Fuck yeah man. Ready to show these fuckin' assholes what's up."

"Hooah." Forrestal nodded, he watched out of his side as the Humvee rolled down the exit ramp and onto the streets below.

At the base of the exit ramp it opened into a four way intersection with the exit ramp to their rear. Lieutenant Diaz had his Humvee positioned sideways so it was blocking the street in front of them, other vehicles were positioning to do the same, creating an impromptu barricade on two of the roads. The road to the right was left open for Cutlass Platoon to pass through, they'd be heading up a few blocks.

Kimber brought the Humvee to a halt next to Falkner's Humvee, all of the men in the vehicle were looking around cautiously. The city streets were lifeless and abandoned, eerily so. What should have been a bright and busy shopping district, especially around this time of day, was a warzone. Shattered glass everywhere, a car had been overturned in the street up the road to their left as well.

"Where are these fuckers?" Martinez asked as he scanned around with his M249, eager to find a target to engage. It was time for revenge.

"Not a fuckin' clue, keep your eyes open." Forrestal replied.

Cutlass Platoon finished coming off the highway and headed up the street, deeper into the city.

In the distance the sounds of helicopters and heavy weapons fire continued to resound.

They were in the middle of it now.

Forrestal watched across the intersection, he could see Lieutenant Diaz working with Sergeant First Class Russo, the Platoon Sergeant, to figure out how to complete their task. The U.S Embassy shouldn't have been too far from here, but there was no telling what they'd run into between here and there. To make matters worse, radio communications confirmed that the Embassy was actively being besieged by hostile forces.

Every minute they sat there was a minute wasted, something they, and the people trapped inside the embassy, couldn't afford.

Staff Sergeant Falkner dismounted from his Humvee, walking past Forrestal's.

"This ain't no good." Forrestal adjusted his grip on his rifle as Falkner walked around the rear of his Humvee, looking for something.

"No, it ain't." Kimber took out a package of cigarettes, placing one between his lips. He patted around in an attempt to find a lighter. "Ah shit…"

"Hold up bro, I got you." Forrestal turned his head around. "Yo Mouse, open up the front pocket on my ruck and get me the lighter in there."

"Rog." Martinez responded as he ducked down from his position aiming over the side of the Humvee, there was the sound of him shifting and then a zip as he opened the bag. A minute later he shoved the disposable lighter up into the driver's cabin.

"Thanks bro." Kimber said as he took it, lighting his cigarette with it. He took a long deep drag, blowing a thick cloud of white smoke out the side of the Humvee.

Suddenly the radio crackled to life. "All Dagger Units this net. Dagger Actual. Alright gentlemen, we're going to be splitting into squad sized formations and spreading out over three blocks. We will then proceed North towards the embassy. Alpha will proceed down two, Bravo down one., Alpha and myself will envelop the enemy's flank, Bravo will hit them head on. Over."

"Bravo copies all, Actual, out." Came the response by Bravo's squad leader.

"Alpha copies all, we're Oscar Mike, out." Falkner got on the net.

"Here we go, eyes open, I don't want to get jumped by a fuckin' asshole on a horse." Forrestal called back to Moreau and Martinez.

"Dagger 2-3, Dagger 2-1. Form up on me, let's get moving. Over."

Forrestal picked up the transceiver. "Copy 2-1, right behind you. Out."

Falkner's Humvee turned and pulled down the street, 2-2's Humvee following close behind. Kimber took up the rear. Behind them they could see Bravo's Humvee following them down a block. Forrestal could see them turn off, making a right.

"Mouse, shift position. I want you firing forward. Specs watch the rear." Forrestal called out to the two in back.

"Copy." Martinez responded, he lifted the M249, moving his weapon from its position resting on the side of the vehicle to resting it on top of the driver's cabin. Behind him Moreau shifted so he could fire out the back of the flatbed in case anything came up on their rear.

"Why the fuck are we splitting up?" Kimber questioned, he was looking around as their three Humvees made a right turn onto a new street. A dead man on the sidewalk nearby.

"LT probably wants to avoid getting bottlenecked on the approach to the embassy. Who knows what the fuck we're up against, if we got surrounded we could be fucked." Forrestal said as he raised his M4, having a look around.

"I hear that, a'ight." Kimber shook his head. "Fuck man, this is super fucked up."

"You're tellin' me?"

"Dagger 2-3, form up on our rear, make an inverted wedge. 2-1 Out." The radio came to life.

"You heard 'im." Forrestal patted Kimber's shoulder with his left hand.

The Humvees formed up, proceeding down the street towards the embassy and the unknown. Falkner and the other taking the lead, with Forrestal's lined up between the two to the rear. Whoever these invaders were, they were about to have a very bad day.

* * *

 **AUGUST 18TH 2017, 0945 HOURS, AIRSPACE ABOVE TOKYO, JAPAN**

The AH-64E swept between the buildings with a certain amount of grace. It was a beautiful aircraft, but more than that it was capable. Eversmann knew this. It was time to show off what it could do.

They had just made radio contact with the Marine Security Group inside, their situation was looking bleak.

"We've been pushed back off the walls and are falling back inside, we're starting to run low on ammunition! These things aren't human, they're ripping the gate apart with their hands! Over!"

"Gunfighter 4-3 copies all. We're coming into position now, setting up for engagement standby." Eversmann said as he swung the helicopter around a building, following the lead aircraft.

"Come left." Atkinson said from his position in front of him. "I'm gonna' hit 'em with a missile to get them off the front gate."

"Copy. Keep collateral to a minimum. Laser up."

In Atkinson's thermal camera he could see everything, there was a massive crowd of people at the gate to the U.S Embassy. Many were attempting to climb the walls, he could see two large humanoid looking creatures working on breaking the gate down.

"Fire." Atkinson said as he released an AGM-114N missile and let it fly. There was a pause before it slammed down just in front of the gate. A big splotch of white filled the screen as the thermobaric missile impacted, annihilating anyone caught in the blast, sending anyone else flying back from the shockwave . When everything cleared it was obvious the attackers were completely stunned, many froze up, others began to run away.

"Start running with the thirty, whole lotta' guys maneuvering up the street."

"Copy." Atkinson said as he brought the gun camera around, sure enough a group of enemy soldiers, at least twenty to forty in total were trying to get around the embassy after the missile impacted. There was a pause and then…

TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK! TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!

The 30mm chaingun ripped into the soldiers, causing splotches of white to fill the screen as the HEDP shells detonated all around them.

"Got that one." Atkinson commented as one of the rounds impacted a soldier's horse, annihilating both of them, leaving a messy thermal white residue where they once were.

"Front gate, they've rallied back up, spilling into the courtyard. Engage, watch your fire, friendlies are still on the first floor."

"Copy." Atkinson replied as he shifted the gun around. "Come left, I'm constrained." He couldn't get the gun on target. "Left, left, left." He encouraged as Eversmann brought the aircraft around.

Atkinson could see the Marines fighting from the first floor, the enemy was advancing on their position fast, charging forward.

TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK! TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!

Atkinson swept a burst across their front, killing several and causing the others to stop in their tracks. The second burst swept up their line, annihilating all in it's path.

"Incoming!" Eversmann yelled out, the Apache suddenly swung to the right, maneuvering hard around a building.

"We're taking fire?!" Atkinson responded, surprised. The enemy didn't appear to have firearms at all, what could they be engaging them with.

"Big motherfucker just threw a fucking car tire at us, and fast!" Eversmann yelled out as he continued to bring the helicopter around, he got on the radio. "Gunfighter 4-3, Gunfighter 4-4. Be advised, enemy combatants are capable of flinging debris as anti-air projectiles. Over."

"Copy that 4-4, prioritize such targets when possible. Out." The lead helicopter responded.

As Eversmann brought the aircraft around the buildings Atkinson could see the crowd in front of the embassy being lit up with 30mm fire from the lead aircraft. Bright white splotches flashed across his screen as the rounds ripped through the enemy formation. One of the large creatures that had thrown the tire disappeared in a puff of white.

"Engage, engage, engage." Eversmann said, swinging right and bringing the embassy back into the gunner view.

TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK! TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!

Atkinson let a burst rip across the enemy once more as they tried to rush through the open gate, the impacting HEDP rounds caused a section of the wall to collapse over, crushing some of the enemy soldiers underneath.

Soldiers and creatures began to scatter in all directions, running for their lives. Whatever this stone fortification was, it surely was cursed, iron beasts circled overhead, breathing terrible fire magic, slaughtering their forces indiscriminately. All they could do now is run, and pray that whatever these creatures were, they did not pursue them.

"4-4, 4-3. Enemy forces are retreating. What's your status? Over." The radio came to life.

"4-3, We're currently green on thirty, fifteen Hellfires left. Over."

"Copy, 4-4. Overlord confirms to me that QRF is five mikes out. We're rolling North and heading for the Imperial Palace, they're in need of desperate reinforcement. Hostile forces are grouping up for an assault and they're not able to evacuate civilians fast enough. Over."

"Copy, 4-3. We're rolling in behind you now. Out." Eversmann said as he brought the aircraft around to the right.

The pair of AH-64E helicopters darted between the buildings of the Tokyo skyline, the Imperial Palace was only a few minutes away by air, but those few minutes would be crucial as the hostile forces prepared their assault.

As they left the U.S Embassy behind it would fall to the QRF to mop up the remains of the enemy force. Not that it appeared it would be difficult for them, scattered and retreating in all directions. Not only that but not once during the entire engagement did it appear any of them had firearms. Just who were these people? What army had men strong enough to fling tires and bricks? Especially fast enough to be a threat to aircraft?

* * *

 **UNKNOWN DATE, 0950 HOURS, UNKNOWN LOCATION**

Remus's horse galloped up the street at full speed. Something had gone terribly wrong. The battle had taken an awful turn.

Remus's men, and the men and Auxiliaries of the ninth and tenth Centuria were assaulting a stone fortification. All had been going well until defenders had shown up on the walls, dressed in strange garments, not much unlike all the other citizens of this strange city they saw, but yet, still different. That wasn't what was important however, no, what was more shocking was the apparent fact that they had assaulted a mage's keep. Every man they saw on the wall wielded some sort of staff which sprayed fire and cut men down where they stood.

While this initially came as a shock, Remus knew his men had the numbers advantage. The Auxiliaries continued to work on tearing down the gate to the keep while the Legionaries attacked the mages on the wall to the best of their ability.

It seemed like they were about to attain victory, the mages abandoning their position on the wall and retreating inside, when a great fireball engulfed the gate, killing many of the Auxiliaries and Legionaries. Remus had never seen fire magic so powerful in his life. Just who were these mages?

But then it started. The terrible, terrible noise. It was as if a skilled swordsman were slicing his blade through the air, over and over, at an inhuman rate. Eyes shot towards the sky as two metal beasts soared overhead. Griffons? Dragons? What were these terrible creatures?

There was not much time for Remus to question their existence, by then it was already too late. Marcus Em Mortus, Centurion in charge of the 9th, rallied a group of his men and was determined to go around the back of the keep, finding a way in.

Remus could only watch on in horror as him and his men were engulfed in more terrible explosions. He could see Marcus simply evaporate from existence as his horse exploded under him.

Meanwhile, the Auxiliaries had managed to get the gates open and men were spilling into the courtyard of the mage's keep. Perhaps if they could get inside they'd be safe from these beasts that were summoned forth?

At the same time, Remus had begun to order nearby Auxiliaries and archers to begin firing at the monsters. One of them soared overhead, spitting fire from its nose. The screams of men being incinerated could not be heard over the terrible noise it made.

Smoke and debris flew up as the inside of the courtyard was engulfed in flames, Remus watched in horror as survivors retreated out from the gates, the ones who had gotten out unscathed covered in dirt and blood. Behind them staggered out a man missing his arm, he promptly collapsed to the ground.

"Second wave!" Remus yelled out as more explosions rocked the ground. "Forward!"

There was a loud roar as one of the Auxiliaries had flung some strange black circular wheel he had torn off a metal carriage nearby. As it looked like it was going to impact the beast it suddenly twisted its body out of the way, disappearing behind one of the many glass structures that surrounded them.

The Legionaries let out a mighty yell as they charged back into the courtyard, this would surely break the defenders.

But as Remus watched on he found that his ears were filled with a roaring far greater, he was violently flung from his horse, a terrible pain swelled through his chest. He found himself staring up at the grey sky above as a terrible ringing overtook his ability to hear.

The face of a Decanus filled his vision, he could feel him shaking his shoulders. As Remus turned his head he could see the dead and dying everywhere. Legionaries and Auxiliaries were running for their lives in all directions, they had been completely routed.

The iron beasts had made another pass, spitting fire among the crowd of soldiers indiscriminately, and bringing down a section of the keep's walls onto them. All order was lost after that.

"Sire!" The Decanus could be heard yelling, it sounded distant. "Quickly sire! On your feet!" The Decanus implored.

Remus didn't want to get up, he felt weak. How insignificant was the might of the Empire to be humbled so easily by a few mages and their pets? Pathetic. Surely if Remus were not to die here, he'd be punished for losing every man under his command. Torture and execution at the Imperial Palace, did not sound pleasant to him.

"Sire!" The Decanus yelled. "You are wounded, please, I implore you! To your feet! Primus Pilus Maron Mal Macaron must be warned!"

Remus slowly pushed himself up, he clutched his chest as he did so. His hand became wet with his own blood, a metal fragment had pierced his armor and was in his torso, just above the stomach. He grit his teeth as he pulled himself up to his knees, the Decanus assisting him.

A group of Legionaries ran by, having dropped their weapons, simply running for their lives. How would Remus explain this to Maron Mal Macaron? He prayed that, being the understanding man he was, he wouldn't be too harsh on him. Count Formal was a different manner entirely, this was his Legion after all.

As a cavalryman hopped off his horse, handing the reigns to the Decanus, both of them started to help get Remus up onto the mount. He would be riding back to meet Maron Mal Macaron, and Count Formal, when Remus's and the two other Centuria had broken off they were heading deeper into the city, where a great castle stood.

Suddenly, to their right, there was a series of loud and violent popping and banging noises. Not much unlike what the mages inside the keep were still doing to Remus's men from their position. More mages? Gods please, no.

"Go sire! Go! We shall hold here!" The Decanus yelled as the horse took off, raising his sword.

Remus knew full well he was leaving them to their fate, they were brave. Braver than him it would seem. Remus was filled with fear as his horse galloped across the strange streets made of black stone. What kind of world had they invaded? One with magic so powerful it reduced entire Centuria to nothing? What of the Empire's grand army? Did they even stand a chance?

And so, here Remus was. Riding for his life as fast as the steed beneath him would carry him. He prayed to the Gods that Maron Mal Macaron and Count Formal would still be alive, they'd need all of their forces combined if they were to even stand the merest sliver of a chance against an enemy like this.

* * *

 _Five minutes earlier..._

 **AUGUST 18TH 2017, 0945 HOURS, CHUOU, TOKYO, JAPAN**

The trio of Humvees rolled up the street, the closer they got to the U.S Embassy, the more destruction they saw. Still no hostile contact however.

There was a series of loud explosions to their front, the battle was in full swing.

"Fuck!" Moreau called out.

"What is it?!" Martinez turned his head for a moment, he was starting to get a little jumpy.

"Something just blew past our rear across the street!"

"Copy!" Forrestal called out, he grabbed the radio transceiver. "2-1, this is 2-3. One of my guys just reported an unknown contact crossing our rear. Over."

There was a brief moment of silence before the radio went off in response. "Copy 2-3, continue to push for the Embassy. Out."

The Humvee shook as it drove over something in the road, they tried not to think about what it probably was as they moved on. All the while the rapid fire explosions picked up in intensity, whatever was being engaged was having a very bad time.

The next two minutes passed in tense silence, they were deep into hostile occupied territory now. Forrestal was about to open his mouth in an attempt to break the silence when the Humvee suddenly lurched to a stop, causing him to shoot forward.

"Fuck dude!" Forrestal yelled out as he grabbed on, placing his hands in front of him to stop his face from smashing into the windshield.

"Shit!" Moreau yelled from the rear, being thrown onto his back.

There wasn't any time to react however, the radio crackled to life in an instant.

"CONTACT FRONT! WEAPONS FREE!"

There was a roar as the small arms fire began to kick up. SAWs firing in alternating bursts, M4s on semi-automatic tearing away.

To the front of the group of Humvees a crowd of men clad in armor had poured out into the street, running right at them. One by one they were cut down as they rushed forth, collapsing over each other.

"Holy fucking shit!" Kimber yelled out.

The sound of shell casings clattering onto the floor of the Humvee resounded in everyone's ears as Martinez continued to rip into the crowd. Forrestal leaned out of the door, placing one boot on the pavement, he lined the red dot of his M68 sight on the torso of one of the armored men, letting two rounds rip into him.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" Moreau yelled out suddenly. "Contact to our rear!"

Forrestal turned his head, sure enough there was a group of at least twenty men on horseback charging up the road towards them. Forrestal fully dismounted from the vehicle and dropped into a crouch, taking aim and opening fire.

Kimber did the same, dismounting from the Humvee and firing his rifle. There was a loud series of pops and cracks as the three men opened fire, cutting into the horse mounted cavalry.

"Mouse get the SAW aiming to the rear!" Forrestal called out, he took aim firing another burst of three shots.

One of the horse's fell over dead from the combined small arms fire, causing a few to trip over it's dead body, flinging their riders to the ground.

Moreau stood up from his position, shifting his grip on his rifle. He fired two rounds into a horseman that had managed to leap over his comrades, charging right at them. He slumped over sideways off his horse, the creature charging forward a few more steps before veering to the left and coming to a halt.

"Where's the fucking SAW?!" Kimber yelled out, firing at one of the horsemen pushing himself up off the ground. The bullet tore through his neck, causing the man to grab at the wound as he collapsed back to the ground.

Forrestal glanced over his shoulder for a moment. "Mouse! Come on!" He then turned his attention back, firing another two shots.

Behind them the fire continued to pick up as the other two Humvees engaged the threat to their front, it seemed these guys were pouring in endlessly from the direction of the Embassy.

"My finger won't move, I can't do it!" Martinez finally yelled out. He was standing straight up in his position, resting the M249 atop the driver's cabin, holding it loosely with both hands.

"Oh hell fucking no!" Forrestal yelled out. He fired into another Horseman who leapt across his fallen comrades, causing his horse to give out from under him. "You aren't doing this right now, or so fucking help me I will come up there!"

"This is a massacre Forrestal! They don't even have fucking guns!"

"What the fuck do you think they did to all the civilians in this area, you retard?!" Kimber yelled in response, firing his rifle.

"You're going to get us fucking killed you fucking shithead!" Forrestal added.

Silence from Martinez for a few moments before he opened his mouth again. "This isn't right, I can't fucking pull the trigger man!"

Forrestal dropped his rifle in his sling, grabbing onto the wooden slats on the side of the Humvee and pulling himself up the side of the vehicle. He reached out, grabbing for Martinez's IOTV. He resisted against being pulled, letting go of his weapon as he tried to get Forrestal's hand off. The struggle only lasted a few more moments before Forrestal pulled him towards the rail, causing him to fall over onto his knees.

"Fucking start firing that weapon right now! You fucking hear me Mouse!?" Forrestal started yelling into his face.

Martinez closed his eyes tight, they were losing him.

Suddenly Forrestal found himself ripped off the side of the Humvee. He prepared himself to have to brawl with some asshole in a suit of armor, but instead found himself face to face with Staff Sergeant Falkner.

The Staff Sergeant was up the sides of the Humvee in seconds. He had Martinez by the collar of his IOTV in an instant and began laying into him with a fury so intense it seemed like even the enemy halted their advance for a moment in pure shock.

"PRIVATE SO FUCKING HELP ME IF YOU DO NOT START FIRING THAT WEAPON RIGHT FUCKING NOW YOUR ASS IS GOING OUT THERE WITH YOUR BAYONET!" The Staff Sergeant gave him a good shake as he screamed in his face. "DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND?!"

"Y-yes!" Martinez eventually managed to stammer out. Behind them Moreau continued to fire his rifle, cutting down one of the horsemen who was now on foot. Staff Sergeant Falkner tossed him to the side, towards his M249 before hopping over the side of the vehicle.

"Get mounted up! We're not staying here!" He yelled to Forrestal as he stalked off back to his vehicle.

"Got it sergeant!" Forrestal yelled in reply. "You hear 'im! Mount up and let's go!" Forrestal banged on the hood of the Humvee a few times.

Kimber fired two more rounds before letting his rifle come down in its sling, getting into the driver's side of the vehicle. As he did so Moreau dropped into a crouch before coming down onto his rear, placing his back to the railing behind him, placing a few rounds into a horseman on the ground.

"Go go go!" Forrestal yelled, throwing himself into his seat as the two vehicles ahead of them began to peel out.

Falkner's vehicle lead the way, plowing through a group of infantry as they pushed forward. There was a blood curdling scream as a man was crushed under the tires. The second vehicle rose with a bump as it too drove over a few of the bodies.

"Brace!" Kimber yelled out as they drove over some of the bodies, making the vehicle bump up as they crushed the fallen underneath.

"How're you holdin' up back there?!" Forrestal yelled over his shoulder.

There was a burst of gunfire from the vehicle ahead of them as one of the soldiers fired into a mean with a sword. The bullets raked up his chest and into his neck, causing his blood to spurt out.

"I said how're you fuckin' doing back there?!" Forrestal yelled back, turning himself around in his seat.

"Good." Martinez finally replied.

"Don't fuckin' let that happen again, you hear me?!"

"Got it." He replied as he adjust the M249 across his lap.

The Humvee bumped upward again as they drove over another set of bodies.

"Watch it on the gas bro!" Moreau yelled from the back.

"We comin' up on the-" Forrestal was cut off as he turned around, there was a loud THWUNK as an arrow impacted off the windshield, shattering off. "The fuck?"

"Watch it! Incoming!" Kimber called out.

THWUNK THWUNK THWUNK

Several more arrows impacted, bouncing off the Humvee.

The vehicles had successfully pushed up the the U.S Embassy and were securing their sector at the front. The gate was blown wide open and a section of the wall had collapsed into the street. There was a large crater in front of the gate, with debris from the wall spread out over the immediate area. Large sections of the street were similarly completely ruined.

"Left left left!" Forrestal yelled out, they were about to drive right into one of the smaller holes in the road.

"I see it!" Kimber yelled. "Hold onto something!"

Kimber tried to steer the Humvee and brought his foot down on the brakes, but something wasn't right. The back end of the Humvee started to fishtail out.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" Kimber yelled. "Hang on!"

Everyone braced themselves as the rear of the Humvee hit the edge of the hole in the road, causing the rear of the vehicle to buck upwards, violently throwing everyone around as it came to a stop.

"What the fuck was that?!" Forrestal yelled.

"Fuck if I know dude! We ran over so many fucking people! Something might be in the fucking tires!"

"Fuck it! Dismount!" Forrestal responded. "Mouse fucking fire your SAW!" Forrestal yelled as he slide out of the Humvee.

He didn't respond, but after a moment the distinctive sound of the M249 opening up could be heard.

"What's the plan dude?!" Moreau yelled out from his position at the rear of the vehicle, he fired two shots into a man charging at them with a sword.

"Hold up!" Forrestal responded, reaching into the Humvee and grabbing the radio transceiver mic. "2-1, 2-3. Our vehicle is fucked, we're stuck here! Over!"

The response was immediate. "Copy 2-3," It was Falkner. "Standby, LT is moving up to our position from the other end of the compound now! Out!"

"LT and his section are pushing up to us! Hold until then!" Forrestal yelled out, letting go of the transceiver mic, letting it fall to the ground.

"Get the fuck up here then!" Moreau responded as he fired another burst of two shots, there was a yell as the man hit fell over.

Forrestal grabbed onto the wooden slats, pulling himself up and over the side into the flatbed of the Humvee. He felt someone grab his IOTV, pulling him in. He fell down into the flatbed, rolling over onto his back.

"Get up man! They're coming!" Kimber yelled at him, he had already climbed in himself.

"Specs! Hit 'em with the forty mike mike!" Forrestal yelled out as he pushed himself up.

"Way ahead of you!" Moreau replied as he flipped up the leaf sights on his M4.

The M320 GLM or Grenade Launcher Module was the U.S Army's replacement for the older M203 system. Like it's predecessor before it the M320 fired low-velocity 40mm grenades, ideal for engaging large groups of infantry, lightly armored vehicles, as well as deploying smoke, CS gas, and illumination flares.

Gunfire picked up behind Moreau as Kimber engaged a pair of swordsmen on foot. There was a pause as Moreau brought the leaf sight over his target, getting the range. The ammunition wouldn't detonate at distances less than twenty-five meters. He lined up the sight on his target, a group of charging infantry, raising the weapon slightly to adjust for the range and…

THUK

Moreau watched as the grenade arced through the air, it came down and exploded with a thunderous boom. The armored men screamed out as they were flung in all directions, many of them wounded severely.

The M320 opened to the side, ejecting the spent casing with a loud clang as it impacted with the floor of the vehicle.

"Reloading!" Moreau yelled out, reaching to his vest for another grenade.

"To our eight!" Kimber yelled out. "What the fuck is that thing?!"

Forrestal glanced over his shoulder, there were two impossibly tall creatures with green and purple skin bearing down on them, and fast. They bulged with muscle, one of them tossing an armored soldier to the side as they ran forward.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Martinez yelled out, bringing the SAW around. He fired an unaimed burst from the weapon's supported position on the driver's cabin, only a few of the rounds impacted one of the creatures. It staggered a bit, but didn't seem to falter significantly.

SCHLUNK

Forrestal placed two rounds into a man with a spear who had gotten dangerously close to the Humvee as he heard the distinctive noise of the M320 being reloaded behind him.

"Buckshot loaded!" Moreau called out as he brought his weapon around.

Martinez fired another burst into one of the monsters, causing it to grab it's chest as it ran forward. A second burst of fire from Kimber hit it in the neck, causing it to collapse to the ground.

The second one continued to charge right forward, directly into Moreau's sight picture as he fired.

There was a loud bang as the creature's face split open and peeled apart like a fruit, spraying gore every which way. It's body staggered forward a few more steps before collapsing onto it's knees and then to the ground.

There was another clang as Moreau let the spent casing fall to the ground. "Good effect on target!" He yelled out.

"That's fuckin' ratchet bro!" Kimber responded. "I'm fuckin' covered in that thing's shit now! What if I get some fuckin' disease!?"

"Me too asshole!" He replied, running the back of his sleeve across his glasses to clean them off.

"Work it out later! Get firing! Forrestal yelled in response. "Comin' up on our two!"

He pointed towards a group of spearmen coming towards the vehicle with shields raised. It didn't do them much good with the supporting fire from the other vehicles hitting their rear ranks. But with the lack of understanding these people had of firearms, it seems they didn't even notice.

Martinez brought the SAW around, leaning into it with his shoulder as he fired bursts into the advancing group. The screaming quickly picked up as the bullets ripped through their wooden shields, cutting them down in waves.

As the men tried to retreat they found themselves caught in a crossfire between the Humvees with nowhere to run. Forrestal's M4 ran dry from firing into the group, he hit the mag release and let the empty magazine fall out onto the floor of the vehicle. Before he could reload the weapon however, there was a loud THWUNK!

"Oh fuck!" Martinez yelled. "Oh fuck fuck fuck fuck!"

Kimber had been thrown to the floor, an arrow had impacted right into his chest, dead center.

"Don't stop firing!" Forrestal ordered, dropping to his knee. He shifted over to where Kimber was on the floor.

The arrow was stuck in his IOTV, in one of his ammunition pouches. He was quiet for a minute before he started coughing violently.

"Fu-uck!" Kimber let out another cough. "What th-he fuck was that?!"

"You got hit by an arrow, you good?!"

"Am I?!" He responded.

"Ya' ain't fuckin' bleeding!" Forrestal yelled back, breaking the wooden shaft of the arrow stuck in his vest and waving it in front of his face with a grin.

Kimber swatted the stick out of his hand as he pushed himself to his feet, grinning wildly the whole time.

There was a sudden and violent roar of automatic weapons fire as three Humvees came down the road. The Lieutenant had finally hooked up with them. As one of the M240s from the weapons section began laying into the group of of armored soldiers, the other one kicked up, tearing a creature with purple skin to shreds.

The battle lasted only a few more minutes, what little survivors there were from the enemy force were in full retreat, the Embassy had been secured.

"Fuck me, that actually worked…" Moreau said, slumping over.

"Hell yeah it did! Fuckin' get some, assholes!" Kimber yelled as a pair of surviving enemy soldiers retreated around the corner of a building.

Forrestal dismounted over the side of the vehicle. "Ollie get down here, find what fucked the tire."

"Yeah yeah, up and over." He responded as he too took himself over the side of the vehicle. The trio of Humvees passed by them, setting up in front of the Embassy gate.

Sure enough, after having a quick look the pair found the problem. One of the men they had run over had been unfortunate enough to get stuck between the vehicle and the tire, Forrestal gave a passing thought hoping that he had died before getting stuck in there, otherwise it must have been pretty awful.

" _Fuck it. He deserved it."_ He decided in the end.

"Fuckin' dumb bastards, they run at cars, they run at rifles, they run at grenades. Who the fuck are these retards?" Kimber asked as he crouched down, inspecting the situation.

"Fuck if I know, bro." Forrestal shook his head as he checked his ammunition pouches.

"Help me pull this dickhead out, would ya'?

"Got ya' bro." Forrestal said as he crouched down with him.

The pair grabbed onto the remains of the man with their gloved hands.

"One. Two. Three!" They yelled at the same time as they pulled.

The battle wasn't over, but at least they'd get a moment of peace…

...Well, as peaceful as you could be removing human remains from your vehicle and performing weapons checks.

* * *

 **AUGUST 18TH 2017, 1000 HOURS, CHUOU, TOKYO, JAPAN**

Itami and the police officer had successfully escorted the three civilians they had with them to the Imperial Palace and Gardens. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department along with the Special Unit assigned to Tokyo had fortified the area to the best of their ability and were ushering civilians deeper inside as quickly as they could.

When they had arrived Itami handed the woman he was helping off to paramedics who were trying their best to work with the overwhelming amount of casualties that were flowing in from the outside world. Trying to transfer any of them to the nearby hospital was out of the question, obviously, so many of the wounded who were in the worst condition were receiving no medical care, only being made as comfortable as they could before they succumbed to their wounds.

The enemy were currently working on breaking their way in, having awful creatures with great strength work on breaking the gate open.

"There's going to be a massacre out here if these people don't get inside!" Itami yelled to two police officers who were manning a booth.

Behind him, the horde of civilians continued to move deeper inside. They were currently being halted from entering the palace itself as the gates were being kept closed. Next to the booth was an elderly couple who couldn't walk any further, resting, and a child who had lost his parents being helped by a female police officer.

"Who the hell are you, kid?!" One yelled at him.

"There's nothing we can do." The older one replied to Itami. "Without proper authorizati-"

"Authorization or not, those things are going to break through the barrier, and soon!" Itami yelled. "There's going to be a bloodbath out here!"

"I'm not gonna say it agai-" The first officer was cut off as the phone in the booth started going off. "Whuh?"

The older officer picked up the phone, listening to whoever was on the other end as they yelled.

"Yes, sir. Yes. Yes, understood!" The officer yelled into the phone as the very one sided conversation continued on for a minute. Once whoever was yelling at him was done he let his shoulders slump a bit and then hung up.

"Was that-" Itami started before the older man cut him off.

"Yes, it was." The officer nodded before turning to his coworker. "Civilians have top priority, we need to get these people further inside, and now."

The gates to the palace were opened by waiting officers and the crowd of civilians immediately started to crowd in as fast as they could. The officers did their best to try and dissuade people from pushing each other violently out of the way, but the panicked crowd wasn't exactly in a mood to listen.

As Itami and a group of police officers started to fall back after the civilians were being let inside, groups of vehicles carrying riot police began to arrive from other parts of the city, setting up a defensive line in front of the palace. Nearby, a Special Unit sniper team had also finished relocating themselves and stood by to take part in the defense.

"Status report!" The older officer called one of the riot team leaders over, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Whatever these things are, they've completely overrun the Government District. It's entirely lost."

"Dammit.." He cursed.

The riot officer then touched the side of his head, listening to an ear piece. "Standby…" His face suddenly lit up, as if he was hearing the best news of his life. "Reinforcements are en-route!"

"Who's coming?" The older officer asked.

"Air support from Ichigaya and Yokota, first division from Narashino as well as American units should be arriving shortly."

"What about the enemy?" Itami piped in. "Where are they?"

"On their way now, they've just broken through the barrier." The officer nodded sternly before heading over to where his riot team was. They had formed a shield wall and were readying CS gas launchers.

" _Dammit."_ Itami thought to himself. " _Where are the JSDF? This is going to get bad very quickly."_

* * *

 **UNKNOWN DATE, 1005 HOURS, UNKNOWN LOCATION**

Remus had finally caught up with the main force, Count Formal's Legion along with the others were preparing to assault a grand fortification which sat atop a hill. If it was anything like the one Remus had just gotten away from, he needed to warn them.

"Sire!" Remus called out, riding past a group of Legionaries at full speed. "Sire!"

Maron Mal Macaron turned his head, what he saw shocked him. Remus looked disheveled and bloody, he had a very large wound and his chest plate was practically split in two.

"Remus! What has happened?" The officer turned his horse around, he was lucky he had not rushed off to the meeting with Count Formal so soon.

Remus brought his horse to a halt, practically falling off of it. He had to swallow his pride as several nearby Legionaries ran over to assist him in dismounting his horse. He grit his teeth as he came down, a sharp pain shooting up through his chest.

"A.. fortification, sire." Remus paused to gasp as another wave of pain shot through him. "We came across a fortification deep in the city, when we tried to assault it we were attacked by powerful fire mages which were defending their keep."

One of the Legionaries offered Remus water, which he gladly took, gulping it down as fast as he could.

"Fire mages?" Maron asked, he did not expect the people of this world to have magic. "How powerful were they?"

"Sire, they've wiped out at least one third of the force I was with." Remus said after gulping down the water he was given.

Such claims made the men around him widen their eyes with shock and surprise. Even Maron Mal Macaron seemed taken aback, if only for a moment.

"Surely you jest?" Maron Mal Macaron finally said.

"No, sire. No I do not. That is not the worst of it. They summoned forth great flying beasts made of iron which spat the most terrible fire I have had the misfortune of living to see. These creatures soared through the skies above and dropped flame onto the men below! Nothing could have been done to stop them! We've made a grave mistake, sire!"

Maron Mal Macaron studied his subordinate. Remus had never been a man to panic easily. He had proven himself in many battles in service to Maron Mal Macaron and Count Formal in the past. If what he said was true, it would be in the Imperial Army's best interest to make a hasty retreat.

However, Maron Mal Macaron quickly flushed this idea from his mind. The Imperial Army did not retreat. Surely no beast, whether on land or in the air could not match the might of tens of thousands of the finest men the Empire had to offer?

"Take this Centurion to the rear for medical care." Maron Mal Macaron ordered the Legionaries.

"Sire, please!" Remus protested.

"No, Remus. You have done what you must. We will discuss this after the battle has concluded. Rest now." Maron Mal Macaron said as he had his horse turn around and began to ride off.

Count Formal was currently formulating a plan of attack with his officers, he wanted his Legion to be the one that took down this strange looking structure.

A pair of Legionaries helped Remus limp his way to the rear of the lines as more and more lines of soldiers marched past, making their way up the hill.

As Remus made his way down, only one thought was present in his mind.

" _I need to get back across the Gate."_

* * *

 **AUGUST 18TH 2017, 1010 HOURS, CHUOU, TOKYO, JAPAN**

"Here they come!" A riot officer announced as formations of the enemy began to approach the palace.

Itami and the regular police officers had taken cover behind the gate leading into the palace. From their position they could see perfectly, the large formations of men clad in metal armor, waving strange flags as they did so. With them, groups of those awful monsters who had the capability of tearing men in two. These really were fantasy monsters like in one of Itami's games.

"Where's the military?" One of the police officers questioned.

"On their way, just be patient.." The other responded tensely.

As the enemy finished coming up the hill their ranks formed up in preparation for the assault.

There was a loud and crisp crack. One of the SAT snipers had opened fire, hitting an officer on horseback. There was a stir among the ranks as this happened,

And then, the sound they'd all been waiting for.

Rotary engines getting closer, and then soaring over head.

"Attack helicopters! Look!" One of the officers yelled out.

A pair of JGSDF AH-1S helicopters soared overhead, turning over and hovering to a stop.

There was a moment of relative silence as the machines hovered there for a moment, the enemy soldiers looking up in awe at these mechanical beasts. Then suddenly…

BRRRRRRRTTTTTT!

The 20mm cannons of each helicopter began to rip into the enemy, kicking up large amounts of dirt and dust.

At the same time a pair of AH-64E swooped in from behind the buildings behind them, splitting off and circling around.

TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!

The 30mm grenades started to impact, kicking up even more dirt and dust as one of the helicopters swooped overhead. It fired its weapon, tearing into the enemy infantry before peeling off again.

The attack was devastating, the enemy forces were sent into all kinds of disarray, running in every direction, merely trying to protect their own lives.

As the SAT snipers continued to engage targets they could identify as leadership, the sound of gunfire began to steadily increase.

"Reinforcements have arrived!" One of the police officers yelled out.

Itami watched as several Humvees began to pull up, dismounting troops that began to engage the enemy. At the same time he could see a unit of Type 73 APCs dismounting their troops as they opened fire with their heavy machineguns. The enemy didn't stand a chance.

BOOM!

Itami ducked his head down as a Type 90 MBT opened fire with it's main cannon after coming around a building corner, the shell impacted the hill with a fiery explosion. Tearing men apart and slaying them with no regard for rank or status.

As the noose began to tighten around the invaders, being slowly and steadily pushed into a retreat by the overwhelming firepower, the riot police readied their CS gas launchers and opened fire. There was a loud series of pops as the canisters were sent flying through the air into the crowd of retreating soldiers and beasts.

"Their line's been broken!" Itami cheered.

The riot police gave a mighty yell as they charged forward into the fray, beating anyone unfortunate enough to be caught into submission so they could be arrested.

The large majority however, would get away, suffering a far worse fate as they continued their retreat down the hill, and seemingly back towards where they had come from.

As men and monsters tried to retreat back into the city, running for the Gate, the found themselves continuously cut down in a hail of bullets and high explosives. To them, it seemed like the underworld itself had opened up, and Hardy was taking out her wrath on them.

For the men of the JSDF and US Army however, this was turning out to be a resounding victory. Itami could hear over the police radio that it was currently estimated over half the enemy force had been destroyed, the rest of which were desperately trying to retreat through the Gate.

Itami let a smile come across his face as the sounds of battle grew more and more distant, the armed forces pushing the survivors deeper and deeper into the city, towards the Gate.

It was over. He had made it, and he had done his duty.

He wiped the back of his hand over his forehead as he headed inside the palace. He needed a break after everything that had happened.

" _What a ridiculous day."_ Itami cursed whatever had caused this in his head. " _The doujinshi festival will be held off for God knows how long now…"_

* * *

 ** **UNKNOWN DATE, 1015 HOURS, UNKNOWN LOCATION****

"Run!" Someone yelled. "Run for your lives!"

Legionaries and Auxiliaries alike abandoned any sense of order and were simply running towards the Gate as fast as they could. The two who had been escorting Remus to the rear were long gone. When the great thundering roars of the awful fire being rained from above started, one took off for the battle on the hill, and the other had abandoned Remus for his own safety.

Remus limped along as fast as he could, he found it very hard to breathe. There was nothing he could do however, to stop here would be to die. He wasn't about to allow that to happen to himself either, he needed to live. Not for his sake, nor for his family's sake. No, Remus needed to live so he could warn the Empire of what happened here.

"Abandon the slaves!" Remus called out to a group of men trying to push a cart full of captured women towards the Gate. "If you value your own lives, abandon the slaves!"

There was an awful roar as smoke filled the air, another fiery death for another dozen or so men. The enemy was bearing down right on them, and at speeds Remus could not even fathom as possible.

The enemy rode in iron wagons that moved faster than any horse drawn cart could surely go, even with the finest of beasts pulling it. Worse, every man who appeared out of these wagons was a mage, shaking his staff at the retreating army and letting loose that awful fire magic which cut men down where they stood.

There was another thunderous roar as one of the great iron beasts of the sky zoomed in overhead, letting loose one of it's fire spells which created that sickening inferno. A death not even fit for the lowest of scum on the continent of Falmart.

Remus's ears rang as he moved as fast as he could, was this where he'd die? Run ragged like an animal, cut down and slain mere feet from safety? The Gate was in sight, but he still needed to get there.

A man next to him screamed out as he was cut down by the mage's invisible magic.

" _That could have been me…"_ Remus entertained the thought for a moment before shaking his head, clearing it from his mind. He'd need to be made of sterner stuff than this if he was going to survive.

Then it started. That awful whine and roar that caused Remus to glance over his shoulder. Behind him he could see a massive metal beast, with a ridiculously long snout running men down as they tried to save their lives. It was absolutely horrific, it did not stop for anything in it's path as it crushed them beneath it's strange black feet. The ground suddenly shook and Remus could not hear anything, his head ached terribly. The beast's snout poured out smoke as it let loose a fire spell which sent forth that invisible death, cutting down Gods know how many men, turning them into a pink and red pulp.

Remus touched his ear as he forced himself to run, he could feel the blood as it ran down the side of his head.

This was sickening. This was not war. This was a slaughter, which the mightiest army the Empire had ever raised had just walked into willingly, albeit unknowingly. How was the Imperial Army supposed to recover from something like this? It was impossible.

" _Why would Emroy allow something like this?"_ Remus thought to himself as it became hard to breathe. " _War is not meant to be fought this way…"_

Remus suddenly felt a pair of hands grab him, he prepared for the worst, but suddenly felt himself being dragged along. Some heroic soldier was determined to not leave him behind.

"Quickly sire! We are leaving this wretched place once and for all!" The young man yelled, though Remus still found it very hard to hear.

But as the pair disappeared into the Gate, Remus gave one last look over his shoulder at the chaos they were leaving behind. It was awful. As far as he could see, thousands dead and dying, more still being cut down where they stood, or as they tried to run away. Others disappearing into balls of flame and smoke, and other still being crushed underfoot by titanic beasts made of steel.

What was this hell?

What had the Empire done?

What kind of Titan had they awoken?

And most importantly, what in the world would they be able to do to stop it?


	3. 3 De Oppresso Liber

**Chapter Three: De Oppresso Liber**

" _Fighting soldiers from the sky, fearless men who jump and die, men who mean just what they say, the brave men of the Green Berets." - Ballad of the Green Berets_

 _One month after the Ginza incident…_

 **SEPTEMBER 22ND 2017, 1300 HOURS, YOKOTA AIR BASE, FUSSA, TOKYO, JAPAN**

The mood in U.S Forces Japan headquarters was intense as command staff sat around a series of monitors.

"Connection established." One officer announced. "Bringing it on screen now."

The staff officers at the back of the room watched impatiently as the screens went to static for a moment, before finally coming to life with color. Everyone went silent as they analyzed the first images to appear.

Green rolling fields, a starry night sky, forests in the distance, and beyond them lay mountain ranges that seemed to go on forever.

"Full control established, beginning UGV reconnaissance." One of the intelligence officers announced as he took control of the machine.

At the back of the room Lieutenant General Marcus Bosaris and Colonel Roy White stood side by side, watching as the UGV continued to send pictures back. It was one of the first reconnaissance attempts beyond the Gate since the Ginza incident one month ago. The Japanese had sent a few reconnaissance parties to the other side, mostly to see if it was safe to cross and to set up a hidden transmitter. But these were the very first images to be captured of what appeared to be a whole world on the other side.

In the period immediately after the Ginza incident had concluded, the Japanese government had been focused on rebuilding, and repairing all the damage that had been caused. It truly was an immense task. While the main fighting had thankfully been mostly restricted to the area around Ginza, the small battles that had taken place all across Tokyo were very evident. To the Japanese people's credit however, one month later and it was almost like there hadn't been an attack at all.

Along with that, one of the more immediate priorities was fortifying the area around the Gate. Ginza was declared an official military installation under JSDF control, though it did afford shared-use privileges to the U.S. The massive metal dome with reinforced doors that now covered the Gate was in sharp contrast to the many beautiful buildings in the immediate surrounding area.

"You've heard the news, I presume?" General Bosaris asked Colonel White as the UGV continued to crawl along, showing more images of the landscape on the other side.

"Yes, sir." Colonel White nodded his head. "Congress says we're with the Japanese."

"Mhm…" General Bosaris said as he pulled something out of the pocket of his ABU. "Japanese senate decided that the area beyond the Gate is an extension of sovereign Japanese territory, and that this was a declaration of war. Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty is being upheld."

Colonel White looked over to the Air Force officer. "We're going in then?"

"We're on standby from Washington, awaiting official orders. But, yes, if the Japanese ask us, it seems likely." Bosaris said as he started flicking the lighter he had taken from his pocket open and closed.

"Sir!" The intelligence officer controlling the UGV called out. "Positive ID of enemy positions."

General Bosaris and Colonel White brought their attention to the monitors in front of them. What could be seen on screen was almost unbelievable, just at the base of the hill away from the UGV was a massive sprawling camp. They could see hundreds upon hundreds of tents, as well as an innumerable amount of men walking about and attending to their duties in the camp. They could visibly see sentries on duty as well, though it appeared not many of them were taking their job very seriously.

"Amazing…" General Bosaris said as he studied the images coming back from the other side.

"Couple of those big ones, heads up." One of the other intelligence officers added, looking at his monitor.

Sure enough, to the left of the UGV was a group of those creatures, with their awful purple and green skin. They seemed to be on patrol of the area immediately surrounding the camp, which the intelligence officers quickly took note of.

The UGV then began it's slow and methodical crawl towards a new position, bumping its way across the grass on it's treads to reposition and get a different view of the camp.

The door to the room was opened by the guards outside, causing Colonel White to turn his head. In walked a U.S Army Major along with a JSDF officer of some kind.

"Been expecting you." General Bosaris walked forward to greet them. He stuck out his hand, shaking with the JSDF officer. It appeared they knew each other.

"It's been too long Marcus." The JSDF officer commented in English. "I'd gladly invite you out for a drink, if this had been better circumstances."

"I wish." General Bosaris shook his head. "Colonel, come over here." He motioned to Colonel White.

White took another look at one of the monitors as the UGV crawled along as he walked over to the group of three officers, nothing else interesting so far.

"This is Lieutenant General Hazama, JGSDF." General Bosaris introduced the JSDF officer as Colonel White offered his hand to shake.

"Pleased to meet you." General Hazama said as he shook the Colonel's hand.

"Likewise, sir."

"And this is…"

"Major Patterson." The other Army officer introduced himself as he shook hands with the Colonel. He didn't need much more of an introduction than that, the triple canopy and lightning bolts on his shoulder spoke volumes all by itself.

"You'll be working with these two extensively in the coming months." General Bosaris said as he turned his attention back to the monitors.

The UGV suddenly stopped moving, the officer at the controls clearly startled. "The hell… Andrew, run a check for me." He commented to one of the officers next to him.

Suddenly the UGV was elevated into the air as something picked it up. The camera being tossed about as whatever it was turned the machine over and over.

"Dammit, something has us."

Suddenly the face of one of the large creatures filled the screen as it held the camera up to its face, clearly not knowing what it was looking at or even holding. The microphone picked up as the creature grunted or possibly spoke in a language they couldn't understand. It continued to shake the device around.

"Standby." The officer at the controls spoke up.

There was an audible noise as he kicked the UGV into high speed, the electric motor going to work and the treads spinning at full power. The creature was visibly startled as it dropped the drone to the ground, the desired effect.

The less desired effect was the smashing noise as the camera shook all over the place, along with an agitated yelling they couldn't understand. This continued on for about a minute before the connection cut to static across all monitors.

"Connection lost, sir." One of the intelligence officers announced to General Bosaris as he frustratedly pushed himself back from the desk in his rolling chair.

General Bosaris shook his head. "How long until we can get another Talon up and ready to cross the Gate?"

"Twelve hours at least, sir." One of the officers spoke up as he got out of his chair.

"If I may, sir?" Major Patterson spoke up from his position behind General Bosaris.

General Hazama stepped out of the way so the Air Force officer could hear what the man had to say directly.

"Perhaps human intelligence is more of the way to go?" Major Patterson said as he took a step forward, resting his hands on the railing behind the rows of desks in front of them. "I can have a team ready by 1600 hours, and there won't be any issues like this." He gestured towards the screens filled with static as he did so.

"What do you need?" General Bosaris asked.

"Just the relevant images you retrieved from the UGV, my men can handle the rest." The Major replied.

"Done. I'll have them over to you shortly, tell your men to start getting ready."General Bosaris nodded.

With that, Major Patterson turned on his heels and headed out the door. He seemed a bit too happy one might say.

"Are a lot of American officers like that?" General Hazama asked as the door swung shut behind the man.

"No." Colonel White shook his head. "Just the Special Forces types."

* * *

 **SEPTEMBER 22ND 2017, 1350 HOURS, YOKOTA AIR BASE, FUSSA, TOKYO, JAPAN**

"Bruh, check it, I look high speed." Kimber called to Moreau who was laying in his rack playing on his DS.

Kimber was currently playing around with the SPCS vest he had been issued, in fact all of them had had their IOTVs recalled and replaced with SPCS vests in the weeks immediately following the 'Ginza Incident' as it was being called in the media.

"Bro, you know there's only one reason they giving these damn things out, right?" Moreau replied, not even looking over to him as he continued to play his game.

"Fuck yeah bro, shit's 'bout to get fuckin' kinetic."

"Don't get too excited." Forrestal said as he came into the room, he had his physical fitness uniform on, coming back from the gym. "Japanese might not even ask us to go in." He added as he threw his towel onto his rack.

"BS dude, there's no way they're not asking for us to come in with them." Kimber said as he took off the SPCS. "There's no fuckin' way."

"He's right dude. You seen all the new guys they're bringing in?" Moreau asked.

It was true, Dagger Platoon was receiving a significant build up. Over the course of the past few weeks they'd gotten a few Combat Engineers, a Military Working Dog Handler, and one of the Company's 60mm mortar teams had officially been assigned over to them. Which pretty much meant only one thing.

War.

Not that it was much of a shock to any of the men in Dagger Platoon. Ever since Ginza the news hadn't shut up about it, and rightfully so. The Japanese had up and decided that the area on the other side of the Gate was an extension of their territory, and that what had happened in Ginza was a deliberate attack on Japan. It was within the government's full legal right to deploy the Self-Defense Force beyond the Gate in response.

While the decision had sparked quite a few protests, it appeared that the majority of Japanese people were in agreement. What had happened was an attack on Japan, and whoever was responsible would need to be brought to justice.

The United States, by relation, would follow them in. They had a standing treaty with Japan which stated that the U.S was, at least in-part, responsible for the national defense of Japan as a nation.

So, even before Congress came together to make a final decision, even before President Dirrel could make appearances on TV making fiery speeches about standing by Japan as one of her long standing allies, and being committed to peace in the region. The Army was already preparing for war.

Changes were being made, new gear was being issued out, units were being reinforced. It wasn't much unlike what would happen before any other deployment to Afghanistan. But this was different, everyone knew it.

Of course the most jarring change, for Forrestal at least, had come in the form of a lateral promotion to Corporal. It was becoming ever more rare to see a Corporal in the Army, but Forrestal supposed it made sense.

About two weeks after Ginza Captain Walker and First Sergeant Jackson had gathered a good portion of the Company's Specialists together, mostly the ones serving as team leaders or on track for promotion to Sergeant. They had to sit through some long winded presentation before it was explained to them that the Company would need a good NCO base for the coming deployment.

So, somehow, Forrestal had managed to find himself slotted into the position of a Corporal. Same pay, same job, more responsibility.

"Yo dude, check it." Kimber said, he had sat down on his rack and was checking his phone.

"What's up?" Forrestal asked as he peeled off the black t-shirt of the APFU.

"Dirrel's on the news again, hold up." He replied as he tilted his phone sideways, making it go full screen.

Forrestal walked over, placing a knee on Kimber's rack so he could get a better look at the screen.

"...States is committed as an ally to the defense of Japan, and will support them in their military endeavour beyond the Gate." There was a pause as a thunderous applause erupted from the crowd. President Dirrel spread his hands out on the podium in front of him before continuing. "Ladies and Gentlemen, once more I would like to thank the brave men and women serving in our armed forces currently overseas in Japan, they played an invaluable role in the defense of Tokyo, not only saving the Department of State personnel trapped in the U.S Embassy in Tokyo, but pushing the enemy back through the Gate where they came from." More thunderous applause.

"Hey that's us!" Kimber yelled out as he grabbed Forrestal's shoulder, dropping his phone and shaking him.

"We're on the news?" Moreau asked from his spot on his rack, looking up from his DS for a moment.

"Fuck yeah dude!"

"Wasn't this how you reacted last time they talked about it on C-SPAN?" Forrestal added as he ripped Kimber's arms off of him.

"What about the CNN report where he started freaking out because he thought he saw footage of himself."

"Shut up, dude!" Kimber yelled as he chucked the empty can of RipIt he had been drinking across the room at Moreau.

Moreau lowered his arms holding the DS, putting them out of the way as the can sailed harmlessly by.

"Fuck you…" Kimber resigned as he picked his phone back up.

"..ess has submitted a formal declaration of war against the hostile forces on the other side of the Gate, I want to affirm once more, the United States remains committed as a faithful ally to Japan." President Dirrel said, all three men suddenly paused. There was a thunderous roar of applause from the phone.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck yeah!" Kimber yelled, jumping off his rack. "That's it!"

"Well shit, it's official then." Moreau said as he closed his DS.

"I guess it is then." Forrestal responded as he pulled on his ACS, another piece of equipment that had been issued out after the Ginza incident.

"Bro wake up!" Kimber yelled as he started shaking Martinez in his rack above Moreau.

"Whu-Wh-WHAT!" Martinez stammered as he was forced awake, nearly rolling out of his rack.

"We're going in! It's official!"

"Dude, fuckin' chill. Would you?" Moreau said, rather annoyed from his position below.

"Bro, how are you not fuckin' hype?" Kimber asked as he ducked down, looking at him.

"Don't you realise this is kinda' fuckin' serious dude?" Moreau said as he shoved his sock covered foot towards Kimber's face.

"Fuck yeah it's serious brother!" Kimber swatted his foot away. "Dude it's like a fuckin' movie, y'know like Avatar or some shit. You think they got blue cat people over there too or somethin'? I bet you it ain't just those big motherfuckers we saw back in Tokyo."

"Chill dude. You're a scary motherfucker."

"Fuck yeah I am!"

"Bro, what the fuck." Martinez spoke up from his position on the top rack as he rubbed his eye.

"Don't worry about it." Forrestal said from across the room. "He's just going insane."

"Cool. Thanks for waking me up, dickhead." Martinez said to Kimber, aggressively out of character for himself.

There was a snort from below as Moreau laughed, follow by a loud metallic crunch as Kimber took the empty can of RipIt from earlier and smacked it into Martinez. As it turned out, the can hadn't been entirely empty. As the thin metal can crushed and burst open, the remains of it's contents spilled all over Martinez's chest, and onto his rack.

There was a small pause of silence, followed by uncontrollable laughter from Kimber, Forrestal, and Moreau. Martinez was less amused, throwing himself from his rack onto Kimber, tackling him to the floor.

Impending war or not, if there was one thing that didn't ever change, it was the soldier's ability to amuse themselves with even the smallest acts of stupidity. As the saying went:

" _It's important to have a sense of humor in a foxhole._ "

* * *

 **SEPTEMBER 22ND 2017, 1430 HOURS, JGSDF CAMP NARASHINO, CHIBA PREFECTURE, JAPAN**

Itami let out a frustrated sigh as he went on his afternoon run.

Life had changed, and not in a good way either.

Due to his actions during the so called 'Ginza Incident', and how he had reportedly played a vital role in protecting the civilians of Tokyo during the attack, he was the poster boy for the JGSDF right now.

Two weeks after the incident, he was taken to a special ceremony in Tokyo. There, much to his dismay, Itami had received a promotion to First Lieutenant. If it hadn't been for Ginza, it was very likely Itami would have been able to go the rest of his life and retire as a Second Lieutenant. Which was perfectly fine by him, a Second Lieutenant's paycheck was more than enough to support his hobby.

That wasn't the worst of it however. No, the worst part was the fact that he had been presented with a Special Citation on live national television. After that, everywhere Itami went people recognized him. He couldn't live quietly anymore. It was awful. Every time he turned on the television there was some news report talking about his heroic actions that day.

On top of all that, he was even being hailed as heroic by some of his fellow soldiers. Just like right now…

"Hey! You're Lieutenant Yōji Itami right?!" He heard a voice yell behind him, catching up to him fast.

" _Not now, please…"_ Itami thought to himself.

"I'm Sergeant Kurata!" The soldier yelled as he finally caught up to Itami, falling into perfect synch with him. "I just transferred in here from Camp Nayaro! Man, it really is a rush to be in the same unit as the guy who saved half of Tokyo in one day!"

"Stop!" Itami finally yelled out, shutting his eyes as he picked up speed. "Enough already, just leave me alone!"

"Wh-huh?! Sir, wait!" Kurata yelled after him as he gave chase. "I'm just saying it really is an honor to meet you!"

"Stop stop stop stop!" Itami shook his head, getting even faster. "Just leave me alone already!"

Kurata was baffled. He had never seen anyone, let alone an officer act this way before. For what? Some praise? What was this guy's deal?

What was even stranger was the amount of speed this guy was able to pick up in a matter of seconds, he had broken out into a full sprint and was leaving Kurata in the dust. He had never seen anyone run so fast.

Itami was pumping his legs as fast as he could, leaving the Sergeant far behind him. He'd just have to finish his run and head out for lunch, at least no one in the officer's cafeteria would bother him.

Itami veered off the running path, running as fast as he could towards the locker area where his stuff was.

As he burst through the door he was given some weird looks by the few men that were in there at the time, but he didn't really care. Itami just wanted his work day to be over so he could go home where no one would bother him.

Itami peeled off his sweaty olive drab green t-shirt, throwing it into his locker as he opened it up.

"So, did you hear?" He heard one of the soldiers say to another one.

"Yeah, we're going beyond the Gate. It's kind of hard to believe." The other responded.

"I know right? Who knows what the hell is over there."

"Nothing a bit of .50 cal fire can't take care of." A third soldier said as he wrapped his arms around both of their necks said with a grin.

Itami continued to undress and put his fatigues on, trying to ignore them as they spoke.

Truth be told, this was something that worried Itami deeply. Not because he felt a sense of dread about going beyond the Gate, as if his death was calling to him from the other side. Nor was it because of some deep seeded cowardice about risking life and limb. What worried Itami the most was the fact that a deployment like this could last for months, maybe even a full year.

To any normal members of the Self-Defense Forces this would be an issue because you'd be away from your family and loved ones for such a long period of time. But for Itami this was a problem because he was definitely going to miss the Winter Doujinshi event, and maybe even the Spring Doujinshi event too.

It seemed like it would be a very bleak and bland future with very little possibilities to obtain new manga. A fate worse than death… or being shipped into a warzone.

Itami sighed as he pulled his trousers up, doing the button up. It could be worse, all things considered. Since he was basically being treated like a poster boy right now, maybe they wouldn't make him do anything too strenuous.

As Itami made his way towards the exit, fixing his blouse and readying his field cap there was a roar of laughter as some of the soldiers continued to joke about going beyond the Gate. At least some people felt light hearted about it.

The cool afternoon air greeted him as he stepped outside. It made him wonder for a moment what the weather would be like on the other side of the Gate… or if it was even safe to cross. Though, he supposed since the enemy came through from the other side, it had to be.

The walk to the mess hall was quick, though he did find a very significant problem when he arrived.

'Officer Cafeteria experiencing high volume, please only use Officer Cafeteria if ranked Major or higher.'

The small sign sat in front of the door, mocking Itami as it denied him the relative peace and safety of the Officers Cafeteria.

" _I guess I can hide in some corner of th-"_ Itami started to think to himself, though the voice piping up behind him cut him off.

"Lieutenant?"

Itami's face dropped into a frown as he turned around, sure enough it was Sergeant Kurata from earlier.

"What do you want…" Itami sighed.

"Are you alright, sir?" The Sergeant asked, apparently he had finished his run and had the same idea, unfortunately for Itami.

"I just want a peaceful lunch..."

"Well, it says the Officers Cafeteria is closed. Would you like to sit together? I'll even treat you to lunch." Kurata offered.

Itami's eyebrows perked up. Free food was free food, more money he could spend on his hobby.

"You know what Kurata. I think I'll take you up on that." Itami sighed.

The pair entered the cafeteria, and true to his word Kurata payed for Itami. After they walked around for a minute they found a table to sit at. The cafeteria was bustling with activity. Camp Narashino was normally only home to the 1st Airborne Brigade and the Special Forces Group, but with the build up after the Ginza incident hundreds and hundreds of personnel were being brought in from around the country.

"So, what's it like?" Kurata asked Itami from across their table.

"What do you mean?" Itami sighed as he took a bite of a roll.

"Being such a big hero? I'm sure the chicks are all over you."

"Awful." Itami said, putting the roll down to take out his phone.

"Huh? What?" Kurata seemed shocked.

"Yeah, it's awful. Absolutely awful. No one will leave me alone anymore, I just want to be able to enjoy my hobby in peace."

"I don't really understand." Kurata said, raising an eyebrow.

"I work to support my hobby. If you asked me to choose between my job or my hobby, my hobby would win every time, no doubt."

"You're being a little ridiculous don't you think? It's kinda rude to complain, you got a promotion and a citation."

"But what does that matter if I didn't get to go to the doujinshi convention…" Itami sighed, placing his head on the table.

Kurata perked up. "The doujinshi convention going on around Ginza that day?"

"Yeah… that one…"

"Uh, well, you know Lieutenant…." Kurata leaned forward. "I was… I was there actually, I didn't really want to say anything because… It's kind of embarrassing I didn't do anything during the uh… incident, but yeah, I was there."

Itami's head shot straight up, his arms flying out and grabbing Kurata by the collar. "You were at the convention!?" Itami yelled rather loudly, getting the attention of several soldiers walking by.

"Uh.. uh, yeah." Kurata put on a smile, though he wasn't expecting this response.

"That's amazing Kurata, absolutely amazing." Itami said pulling him in closer. "We should hang out after we get off work, I'll come over to your place and you can show me everything you got, I hope you got good stuff, did you get anything related to Mei-con? Oh this is great Kurata."

Kurata suddenly shoved Itami away. "Sir, I'm flattered, but please, control yourself."

"Huh? Hey, don't go away yet, come on this is the start of a beautiful relationship here Kurata." Itami said trying to pull him back in.

"Sir! Please! I don't swing that way!" Kurata pulled himself free, jumping out of his chair.

"Huh! Hey! Don't get the wrong idea!" Itami yelled as Kurata took off away from him. "Kurata wait, hey! Kurata come on!" Itami jumped out of his chair after them.

From across the cafeteria the comedically awkward duo caught the eyes of Sergeant First Class Akira Tomita. "Looks like those two are having fun." He sighed, watching as they ran off. Truth be told, he had been keeping an eye on Lieutenant Itami, he had been assigned to his unit for the coming deployment, and now that he had seen what his new CO was it didn't fill him with the most confidence.

* * *

 **SEPTEMBER 22ND 2017, 1540 HOURS, GINZA, TOKYO, JAPAN**

Military vehicles were not a rare sight in Tokyo as of recent. In fact they were quite common. Downtown in the Ginza area especially, and most certainly in the immediate area around the JSDF camp around the Gate.

But even now there were things that made the average Japanese civilian turn their head in curiosity.

Different to the usual assortment of Japanese or American utility trucks, heavy construction vehicles, and the occasional wheeled armored personnel carrier that passed through the area the small convoy of vehicles currently being guided through traffic looked quite odd.

At the front of the pack was a JGSDF Type 82 command vehicle, followed by what looked like a pair of Humvees. Very heavily armed and armored humvees from the looks of it.

The small group made a left, coming to the outer perimeter of the JSDF occupied area immediately outside the Gate. Flanked on either side by a Type 90 MBT the security gate was lifted up and the vehicles were let inside.

They all came to a stop, pulling over into a designated area where a tent had been set up. As they did a team of JGSDF and U.S Army intelligence personnel ran over to the command vehicle to get to work with the crew inside.

Captain Thomas Reyes stepped out of the lead humvee from the passengers side once it had come to a complete halt. He pulled off his Oakley glasses as he walked towards the tent. Behind him followed Chief Warrant Officer Edward Brown and Master Sergeant Mark Herrera.

The trio of large men clad in U.S woodland camouflage and sporting beards were a rather shocking sight for most of the JGSDF personnel present as they stalked their way into the tent. Most of the American soldiers they had seen were clean shaven young men, akin to skeletons compared to these beasts of men they had just bore witness to.

"Not a minute too soon, Reyes." The Captain was greeted upon entering the tent by Major Patterson.

"Happy to be here, sir." He responded, shaking the man's hand.

"How was the language training?" The Major asked as he lead the trio further into the tent, everywhere around them was bustling with activity. Men carrying files or working at computers.

"About as well as a two week crash course in a language that has only existed for a month could go."

"Fantastic then, hope you'll be bringing a pocket dictionary." The Major nodded as they arrived at their destination.

Around 6,000 prisoner had been taken during the attack in Ginza, most of them being housed at a prison facility constructed on an offshore island. Military intelligence had been working frantically to decipher the language they spoke and were making their best attempt at getting the personnel that would need to know it most copies of crude dictionaries. Luckily enough the language seemed very Latin based, eerily so for what appeared to be a whole different world on the other side.

The men of ODA 1122 were one group of specially selected personnel who had been going through crash courses on the language, because of this it was time for them to be called up.

"You received most of this en-route, but I'd like to run through it with you one more time." The Major said to Captain Reyes as he spread a series of images out on a desk.

Behind him Chief Brown crossed his arms, taking a look around. "If you don't mind my asking, is it even safe to cross this thing, sir? I don't want to get spaghettified."

"Some poor Jap bastard had to cross it to set up a connection, so signs point to yes." The Major nodded. "But you'll be finding out, won't you?"

Chief Brown nodded as Captain Reyes pointed to one of the images on the table.

"What's here?" He asked.

"Massive forest from the looks of it, pretty much surrounds the immediate area save for the North and South where you've got a mix of a mountain range and wide open grasslands." The Major said as he dragged his finger over to another image, showcasing a picture of a pristine looking mountain range bathed in moonlight, giving it an almost blue hue.

"Enemy forces are… here?" Master Sergeant Herrera asked, pointing to another image.

"Directly to the south at the base of the hill, yes." The Major responded. "Essentially, haul ass to the East and you'll hit the woods. It'll still be darkness over there, and anything that spots you will be lost easily. We're dealing with guys who at most move on horseback here."

"After that?" Captain Reyes asked as he pulled on of the images closer, taking a look. It was of a sky filled with more stars than he'd ever seen in his life, even out in the middle of Afghanistan or Iraq.

"Set up for observation and record enemy troop movements and force size, destroy targets of opportunity. Generally make their life hell."

"Can do." Reyes said as he pushed himself off the table.

"Try not to have all the fun now, save some for the rest of us." A new voice added in slightly accented English.

The group of men looked up to find themselves face to face with a JGSDF officer wearing silver glasses. The tall, thin man, with his short black hair seemed almost comically out of place with the trio in front of him.

"Get a load of this guy." Herrera had to hold himself back from laughing.

"Oh, right." Major Patterson straightened up. "This is Lieutena-"

"First Lieutenant Yanagida, at your service." The man interrupted.

"...Yanagida." Major Patterson finished. "He'll be your liason while you're on the other side."

"Oh, fantastic." Herrera added.

"Looking forward to working with you, Americans." The man smiled.

"A pleasure, I'm sure." Reyes said as he stuck out a hand for the man to shake.

Yanagida's face tensed up a bit as the much larger Captain Reyes practically crushed his hand with a vice grip.

"Enough rough housing, gentlemen, there's work to be done." Major Patterson quickly put an end to the shenanigans. "We've got the clearance to open up the Gate, so get ready to move out."

"Yes, sir." Reyes nodded.

The trio of men made their way back through the tent, stalking their way through with what seemed like killing intent. A lot of the JGSDF personnel made sure to steer clear of them as they exited.

"All good?!" Came a call from atop one of the vehicles parked out front as the trio appeared from inside the tent. Sergeant First Class Austin Knight was on top of the lead vehicle, performing a check on the mounted M134.

The hand done camouflage job on the two GMV-S vehicles done by criss crossing lines of green and brown looked almost silly in comparison to the professional olive drab of the many JSDF vehicles surrounding them. The weapons bristling off of the vehicles however, was nothing to laugh at.

On the lead vehicle an M134 'Minigun' mounted up in the turret, with two AT4 launchers secured to either side of the turret for easy access by the gunner, along with an M240 which sat on a swivel mount on the passengers side. On the second vehicle a Mk 19 automatic grenade launcher sat in the turret, backed up by a rear facing M2 .50 Caliber machine gun in the open rear of the vehicle. The names spray painted in black on both vehicles were well earned, 'Pluto' and 'Mars' respectively.

"We're headin' out in ten! Standby!" Reyes called back to him.

Knight gave a thumbs up before flashing a toothy grin and disappearing down into the vehicle through the turret.

"Make sure your guys are ready Chief." Reyes said to Brown, he responded by touching a finger to his shaved head and walking off for his vehicle.

"You think we're going to hit contact once we're on the other side?" Herrera asked as he walked around 'Pluto' for the drivers side.

"I'd expect it. Like Patterson said, we're just going to haul ass into the woods. Any asshole on a horse wants to follow us, he's gonna have a bad time."

"Hooah." Herrera responded as he opened the door, reaching inside the vehicle.

"What's it lookin' like?" A new voice asked. Staff Sergeant John Ambrose was putting on his Ops Core FAST from his position behind the passenger's seat.

"Pretty scenic if you ask me. Couldn't really see anything resembling a permanent structure in any of the images." Reyes responded.

Ambrose nodded as he shifted his assault pack around. "You get to call home?"

"Nope." Reyes said as he climbed into the vehicle, he pulled the M240 on it's swivel mount in towards him as he did so. "It's midnight back in Denver right now, Alice's probably asleep and I don't want to wake the kids."

"Home for Christmas." Ambrose said as he shoved his gloved fist forward.

"Where have I heard that one before." Reyes responded as he bumped it.

"So, like, is it even safe to head over there?" Knight piped in from his position in the vehicle, he was adjusting his plate carrier.

"Y'know Chief asked the same thing?" Herrera turned his head as he pulled on his own plate carrier.

"Yeah? That's real neat. Almost like he's got his head on straight, Mark."

"Quite frankly, I'm not hearing the level of motivation I'd like to." Reyes said.

"Yeah, call me crazy man. I'm not too hype on the idea of jumping through a portal."

"Hey, get a load of this." Herrera said, pointing across Reyes's chest towards the tent.

Lieutenant Yanagida had exited the tent and was heading for the Type 82.

"Whozat?" Knight asked, clambering over Ambrose a bit to get a look before he was shoved off.

"Some Jap Lieutenant, thinks he's hot shit. Apparently we're stuck with him."

"Bruh. Fuck that. He's the most rear echelon lookin' motherfucker I've ever seen." Knight shook his head. "Cushy ass motherfucker gets to hang out over here and do what? Talk shit at us? Fuck that bro."

"I hear that." Herrera nodded.

Suddenly the radio in the GMV buzzed to life.

"Reaper callsigns this net, Overlord. Radio check. Over."

Captain Reyes picked up the radio transceiver. "Reaper 1-Actual. Solid copy, Overlord. Over."

"Reaper 2-Actual. Loud and clear. Over." Brown's voice came over the radio.

"Reaper callsigns this net, proceed to the staging area. Gate will be opening in five, Japs aren't going to hold it open for longer than necessary. Out."

"Start it up." Reyes ordered Herrera.

The GMV began to rumble as the engine roared to life with the push of a button. The men in the back of the vehicle performed final weapons checks as the truck pulled out from its position and headed forward towards the massive metal doors covering the Gate.

Outside the vehicles JSDF personnel were running about, infantry teams were actually setting up in defensive positions facing the Gate. A Type 90 tank was driven into position to cover the opening.

"What are they expecting?" Herrera asked, watching the whole show.

"Who knows. We all saw the news reports." Reyes said. "They're probably spooked senseless, they built this whole damn dome in like what? Two weeks?"

Before anyone could respond however, there was a loud alarm followed by a metallic rumbling. The two massive metal doors that covered the Gate slowly began to slide open. The turret of the Type 90 scanned from left to right, peering into the growing darkness as the Gate opened.

"Reaper callsigns this net, operation is a go. Godspeed gentlemen." Came a final announcement over the radio.

"Gun it." Reyes ordered.

There was a roar as 'Pluto' took off, shooting forward, 'Mars' right behind them. The pair of GMVs disappearing into the darkness of the Gate. The alarm sounded once more as the large metal doors were closed as fast as possible, rumbling back into place and locking with a loud 'CLUNK'.

All that could be done now was to wait, watch, and listen.

* * *

 **DATE UNKNOWN, 0110 HOURS LOCAL TIME, ALNUS HILL, IMPERIAL TERRITORY**

Remus placed a hand on his bandaged chest as he exited his tent. His health had only recently improved, though he was in much better shape than when he had first made it back across. He had the piece of metal that had lodged into his chest removed, though his chestplate was completely ruined. Similarly his helmet had also been extremely damaged.

Activity in the camp at Alnus was minimal at this time of night. Though, there were drastically less men present than from before their incursion beyond the Gate.60,000 dead or missing. Over half of the force that had crossed the Gate was either killed, captured, or gods know what else. Morale was at an all time low. It truly was a pitiful sight.

One month had passed since the survivors had pulled themselves back to the other side, and no reinforcements had come to relieve or even assist them. Remus counted himself lucky the demons hadn't pursued them through the Gate.

He looked down at his damaged helmet in his other hand. The left cheek guard had been completely torn off in some terrible fiery explosion, it was horribly banged up, and the plume which signified his rank was matted and dirty. Still, it was his.

There was a soft galloping as an aide he had requested earlier brought a horse around the front of the tent.

"Surely if you insist on leaving at such a time of night you should have an escort, sire?" The man said as he handed the reigns off to Remus.

"I haven't the time." Remus said as he attempted to hoist himself up onto the beast, he winced as a wave of pain shot over him. The aide moved quickly, assisting him up. Remus didn't miss a beat, acting as if nothing happened. "I must head for the capital immediately. We're in desperate need of reinforcement here. To wait for an escort would be a delay we cannot afford."

"I understand, sire." The aide nodded as Remus pulled on his damaged helmet.

"Any brigand who'd lack the common sense to attack an Imperial Centurion would be no match in combat regardless." Remus added as the aide raised Remus's sword up for him to take.

Remus unsheathed the blade, examining his sword for a moment in the torch light. Satisfied he placed it back in it's sheathe before placing it at his side.

"Then I wish you a safe journey, sire. May the gods guide you."

"I shall return by the end of the week." Remus nodded before getting a move on.

The horse slowly moved it's way forward, walking up the makeshift dirt road that had formed between the many rows of tents. Most of the men were asleep at this time, the ones awake that weren't on sentry duty were drinking and gambling among themselves, as men did.

Remus pushed his worries about the low morale to the back of his mind as he continued to ride through the camp. Desertion hadn't become a serious problem yet, but it was only a matter of time. Which made his mission all the more important.

Speaking to the Senate in the Capital was vital, they needed reinforcements badly. The journey would take Remus about two days. With any luck it would be an uneventful horse ride through the countryside of the Empire.

A female scream caused Remus to turn his head for a moment. A woman in strange clothes was thrown to the ground by a pair of soldiers, her garments in tatters. One of the prisoners that had successfully been taken from the other side of the Gate. Many of the slaves that had been taken had to be abandoned in the retreat, but they had still managed to keep a handful. The woman screamed in her incomprehensible language as one of the soldiers took hold of her, lifting her back up. It was a fitting revenge for the defeat the Empire had suffered, she'd be dead or on the slave market in a few days, along with the others.

Remus returned his attention to the path in front of him. A group of three men were heading past him in the opposite direction, one carrying his spear over his shoulder.

"Leaving so soon, sire?" One of them called out to him as he approached.

"Do you not care to help yourself to the women?" Another asked.

"Important business, it's off to the Capital with me." He announced to them, putting on a smile as he rode past.

"A safe journey to you then!" The one with the spear called, giving it a wave as they passed.

Remus glanced over his shoulder, watching the three men as they disappeared into one of the tents.

Trotting along for a while longer, Remus eventually passed through the rear of the lines. The medical area was particularly nasty. The few wounded who had escaped across the Gate were in horrible condition. Among them the luckiest were those who had simply had a limb blown off, or had their bodies punctured by the horrible fire magic that the enemy soldiers wielded. The more unfortunate among them were suffering from horrible burns that left their skin charred and deformed, as if they had been attacked by a Fire Dragon itself. They could only be made as comfortable as was possible before they died, which didn't take long. The stench from the place was awful.

It was all behind him now though, ahead of him lay nothing but rolling fields of green, illuminated an off blue by the moon above. He gave the reigns a shake, causing his mount to pick up speed. The cool night air felt good as it blew across Remus's skin, gently hitting against his face, the sound of the wind filling his ears as he left the lights of the camp behind.

As the horse methodically galloped along Remus leaned forward, praying for the guidance of the gods as he disappeared into the night. He couldn't help but feel as if the fate of the Empire rested in his hands.

* * *

 **SEPTEMBER 22ND 2017, 1600 HOURS, INSIDE THE GATE, LOCATION UNKNOWN**

As the pair of GMVs cruised the the darkness they were illuminated with an ominous blue glow, they were driving down a clearly marked straight path that seemed to go on forever. They'd been driving for ten minutes at the least now.

Herrera didn't dare turn off of the illuminated path in front of them, it was their only guide. To either side of them the blue glow slowly turned into an inky blackness that seemed to swallow all light whole. Who knew where you'd end up.

"Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." Ambrose could be heard saying from his seat in the back. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven…"

There was a metallic creak as Knight rotated the turret above, scanning into the darkness that surrounded them. His foot brushing up against Ambrose as he continued to recite the Lord's Prayer.

Reyes had one hand gripped onto the passenger's side M240 while adjusting his ComTac headset with the other. He could communicate with 'Mars' just fine, not that they'd have much trouble communicating anyway really. But contacting 'Overlord' was a different matter. Five minutes in and the connection went to static. It looked like they were on their own until they could get to the other side of the Gate and start piggy backing off the UGV connection dish.

"This is giving me the creeps, man…" Knight could be heard saying as he rotated the turret once more, he glanced over his shoulder back at 'Mars'. They were right behind them, luckily some unseen force hadn't decided to separate the two vehicles.

"You're telling me." Herrera's voice came across the comms. "This shit goes on forever, if it wasn't lit up you could get lost in here and never come out."

"It's like some bad show you'd see on television, you know?"

"And the dragons and roman era vintage soldiers aren't?" Ambrose finally cut in.

"Cut the chatter." Reyes finally announced.

Another barely audible metallic creak as Knight swivelled the turret around once more.

"Hey… wait, wait, what the hell?" Herrera spoke up.

Reyes's eyes shot forward to see what his driver could see.

The light up ahead seemed to stop and open up into an expanse of darkness, speckled across with patches of light.

"I think this is our opening." Reyes turned his head to Herrera, he touched a hand to his ComTac as he announced over open comms for Brown to hear in 'Mars'. "Kill your brights and drop speed, this is it."

Almost in synch the headlights of both vehicles turned off and the roar of the engines turned into a low rumble. Everyone in the vehicle went silent as they approached what was unmistakably an opening. The closer they got, the more they could make out a brilliant night sky ahead of them filled with a neverending cascade of stars.

There was a tense pause, and then in an instant everything around them changed. No longer were they surrounded by darkness on all sides, but instead the men of ODA 1122 found themselves surrounded on all sides by a brilliant sky and rolling fields of grass.

There was a shock as Herrera brought the GMV to a stop, sliding just the tiniest bit on the wet dew covered grass. Knight craned his head around in the turret, checking behind him as 'Mars' blew through the opening of the Gate right behind them.

It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the bright moonlight which was now bathing over them.

Reyes immediately picked up a compass he had sitting next to him on standby for when they got to the other side, just to get their bearings a bit.

"Multiple light sources." Knight announced over comms as the low metallic creak of him turning the turret could be heard. "Bearing 220, can't really ID what they are."

"Push left, let's get the hell out of the open." Reyes quickly ordered. "Treeline to the East."

'Mars' took the lead this time, taking off with a low rumble as 'Pluto' slotted in right behind them. It didn't seem like anyone had spotted them, thankfully, but they couldn't be sure as of yet.

Brown's voice crackled in over the comms as the pair of vehicles bounced over the grass and down the hill they had come out on top of. "Hitting the tree line, take it slow."

Herrera on instinct matched his speed with 'Mars' as the two GMVs slipped into the woods in front of them. It wasn't a densely packed forest from the looks, but it would provide more than enough cover for them.

After driving for another three minutes or so 'Mars' slowly came to a halt, parking the GMV in between two trees. 'Pluto' parked opposite of them, with a set of shrubs to their front. As the engines of both vehicles died down an eerie quiet settled in and the natural sounds of the woods took over.

Reyes, Herrera, and Ambrose dismounted immediately, swiftly moving to the center area between the two vehicles where Brown and another soldier, Sergeant Vito Moretti had already set up.

Ambrose and and Herrera turned, raising their weapons as they got into a crouch. The moon provided a surprisingly ample amount of light, allowing them to see quite far into the woods around them.

"Give me five and I'll see about piggy backing off the dish the Japs set up." Moretti announced as he slid the AN/PRC-119 radio on his back off.

Reyes nodded as he produced some of the images the Major had shown them back in Ginza, he turned around, grabbing Ambrose by the shoulder. "Ask Knight if this looks like what he saw." He said in a low tone of voice.

Ambrose nodded silently, grabbing the photograph and stalking off back towards the GMV.

Brown had produced a low visibility light and was quickly scribbling down onto a notepad, he then turned it around and held it out for Reyes to see. "Rough idea of what I'm thinking the terrain looks like from here back to the hill. Looked like it's the highest point around for a while."

"I thought so," Reyes nodded. "Got those mountains but who knows how far away that is."

"Knight confirms what he saw was in the photograph." Ambrose's voice crackled in over Reyes's ComTac.

"Enemy encampment will be here then." Reyes said as he took the pencil from Brown, marking down on the rough sketch an area to the south of the hill.

"What're you thinking then?" Brown asked as he took the drawing back to have a look.

"Obvious place to observe from would be the hill, but it's exposed as hell up there." Reyes looked off to his right, Moretti was still working with the radio next to them trying to piggyback off the signal from the dish the Japs had set up. "I'm thinking we get a foot patrol to head down south, see if we can't find a place to watch their camp from the forest here."

"Alright, then who's going?"

"Take Ambrose, Knight, and Ortega with you. See what you can find." Reyes then turned to Moretti. "How we looking?"

"Copacetic, think I've got it sorted."

"Tell me when you've got Overlord on the net then."

"Can do."

"Ortega, bring it in." Brown said over his ComTac as Ambrose returned with Knight.

A moment later the third man joined the group, taking a knee and resting his M110 SASS on his knee as he adjusted his cap with his other hand. "What's goin' on, Chief?" He asked.

"Weapons and ammo, we're gonna go have a look and see if we can't set up an OP."

"You got it." Ortega nodded, slipping off his assault pack and checking his plate carrier.

Knight placed his Mk46 on the ground next to him as he loaded it with a fresh belt.

"All good?" Brown asked as Ambrose took a look through the ECOS-N optic on his weapon, he responded by giving a thumbs up. "Alright then gentlemen, wedge up and let's go."

Brown rose to his feet, raising his M4A1 to his shoulder as he stalked forward into the brush. The other three took up their positions and disappeared in right after him, leaving Reyes, Herrera and Moretti with the vehicles.

As Reyes looked up at the star filled night sky, brighter than any he had seen in his life, he felt the realization slowly creep over him. This truly was a different world.

* * *

 **SEPTEMBER 22ND 2017, 1700 HOURS, JGSDF CAMP NARASHINO, CHIBA PREFECTURE, JAPAN**

"...and so, due to this all officers are to be presented with this." Itami watched absent mindedly as an officer at the front of the room held up a small book. "This pocket dictionary will be a vital asset to all units in the field as it contains the most up to date, at this time, translation of the language spoken by captured enemy soldiers. From what has been deciphered we can assume this is the language spoken by all…"

" _We get it already…"_ Itami sighed to himself. He really just wanted to get off of work already. After he had ended up scaring Kurata off Itami had put himself in a bit of a slump, upset he probably wouldn't end up being able to see all the loot Kurata had picked up from the convention.

"In one weeks time." The officer held a single finger up. "We'll be forming the spearhead of the offensive across the Gate. I expect all of you to read and study these booklets in that time, familiarize yourself with the local language. I can not stress how important it is for all of you to do this."

For some reason Itami felt as if many pairs of eyes suddenly were looking at him. Poster boy or not he did have his reputation here at Camp Narashino. He was infamous for being able to avoid work, and for the fact he had gotten many of the Special Forces Group operatives hooked on Manga and Anime.

"A-heh…" Itami rubbed the back of his head.

"Dismissed." The officer announced.

As the small crow of Lieutenants and Captains filed their way out of the room they were presented with one of the aforementioned pocket dictionaries by a soldier waiting by the door.

Itami flipped through the small book's pages quickly, having a quick look. There was… a lot to say the least. Really you'd need formal language training to understand this stuff, was it… Latin? Itami wasn't surel, stuff like this wasn't his speciality.

"Hello…. how… are… you?" He finally pieced together after flipping through a few of the pages. There was definitely no way he'd be able to hold a decent conversation in the span of one week. Though, he wasn't even sure if he'd need to. "Man, what a pain…"

"Lieutenant." There was a strong and stern voice that made Itami lift his head up. In front of him stood a rather large man, donning a JGSDF uniform. His chiseled jaw, shaved haircut, and massive muscles basically told Itami everything he'd need to know. He was one of _those_ types.

"Uh, uhm, yes?" Itami asked.

"Sergeant First Class Akira Tomita. I've been assigned over to your unit along with…" The man turned around, looking a bit confused. "Where did…"

"I think you've got the wrong guy." Itami immediately responded.

"Hold on, sir." Tomita responded as he turned around fully. He took a few steps and looked around the corner behind him. "What are you doing back there?"

"Whuh…?" Was all Itami could say as he watched the man drag a furiously resisting Kurata out from behind the corner.

"No! I really don't feel comfortable with the Lieutenant, I told you all about what happened earli-!" Kurata was protesting. "Aaaaah, hey, hey Lieutenant." Kurata began rubbing his head as he put on a forced smile.

"Oh, not this." Itami sighed. "I like girls, Kurata, please."

"Of course you do, sir."

"Kurata…" Itami rubbed his forehead.

"Anyway, sir." Tomita interrupted. "We've been assigned over to you to assist in preparing for the deployment beyond the Gate."

"And… what exactly do you mean by that?"

"Well, sir." Tomita started, producing a checklist out of seemingly nowhere.

"Oh no…"

"First we need to head down to the armory and sign off for Type 64 rifles."

"64s? We're not getting 89s?"

"These are the orders, sir." Tomita shook his head.

"Great, what else…"

"Then it's off to the Quartermaster to get new webbing, vests, helmets, and other essential equipment."

"Lovely…"

"Then we have to-" Tomita started, but Itami quickly cut him off.

"How long are we going to be here, Tomita?"

"I'd say at least until 2000 hours, sir."

"Aaaaaaaagh….." Itami groaned. "I just want to go home…"

"Uh, well, I suppose we'd better get started then, sir." Tomita nodded, folding his checklist up and putting it away.

"Lead the way then…" Itami slumped over.

As the trio made their way through the facilities of Camp Narashino they definitely looked like an odd bunch. Tomita leading the way with Itami shuffling along behind him, Kurata keeping an arms length distance from the Lieutenant at any given moment.

The unit couldn't get any weirder, at least that's what Tomita hoped.

Eventually, as Kurata caved and began talking to Lieutenant Itami about anime, or some such thing along those lines the three of them made their way out into the cool evening air, heading off for the armory. It was going to be an interesting next few months, that was for sure at the least.

* * *

 **SEPTEMBER 22ND 2017, TIME UNKNOWN, LOCATION UNKNOWN, INSIDE THE GATE**

"Looks like they're rotating shifts." Ortega's voice crackled in Brown's ear over the ComTac headset. "Got their relief coming up on them now."

The four man team head been observing the enemy camp from a position in the woods for nearly an hour now. The walk over had, thankfully, been quite uneventful. One of the worries that had weighed heavily on Chief Brown's mind going in was any sort of clash with the local fauna, who knew what kind of strange animals they had over here.

The worst they had run into, thankfully, had been some sort of squirrel like creature. No rows of sharp teeth, now claws that could tear a man in two, no fire breath, no magical flight. Just a squeak and then it disappeared off into the night. It was relieving in a way.

"Daylight soon from the looks of it." Knight's voice crackled in in response. "Chief do you think we should bug out?"

"Not yet." Brown responded. He shifted around in his position, laying in the grass next to a tree. "Let's give it another ten, then we'll bug out."

"Rog." Knight responded. He was a few meters away, laying behind another tree.

"These guys wouldn't know what hit 'em if we just started popping them right here and now." Ortega announced. "Look at this."

"Bro I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't think these guys even know what a gun is." Knight said back.

They watched as the sentries took a seat at the edge of the camp, roughly 400 meters away from the edge of the woods. They sat in front of a small fire which illuminated them fully.

They'd seen images of what the enemy soldiers in Ginza had looked like on television before, but it was almost surreal in a way to be watching them go about their business like this. There was not a single firearm to be found, instead all they saw were men with metal chest plates and dressed like roman soldiers walking about carrying spears and swords. Was this really the same enemy that had come through the Gate and caused so much chaos in Tokyo?

"I don't like this." Ambrose's voice crackled in.

"What's up?" Knight asked.

Ambrose was in a position a few meters to the rear of the group, pulling security and making sure nothing snuck up on them.

"I dunno man, I've got this feeling." His voice sounded over the ComTac. "There's just… something here."

"Have you spotted anything?" Brown asked.

"Negative." Came the response. "I feel like we're being watched though."

"Maybe it'd be a good idea to bug out of here after all, Chief." Ortega said. "What more are we going to get out of watching these guys for another ten mikes?"

"Standby." Ambrose's voice suddenly sounded again. "I think I saw something."

Brown watched as Knight rolled over onto his back, lifting his Mk46 onto his chest. "What do you got?" He asked.

"No idea… It was just a flash of… Shit there it was again."

"What's happening?" Brown asked this time.

"Something fast. I keep catching a flash of red darting between trees. I can't identify it."

"Rog. Alright, pack it up and let's start egressing." Brown responded. "Knight link up with him."

Knight slowly pushed himself off of the ground into a crouch and began to stalk off to where Ambrose was.

"Holy shit!" Ambrose cursed silently.

Knight took off fast between the trees, heading for his position. There was a soft thud as Brown looked over his shoulder, watching Ambrose throw himself backwards onto the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Brown asked.

Ambrose and Knight were talking over each other as Knight took a knee next to him, he seemed to be taking a look at his chest.

"Are you hit?" Brown asked once more.

The two continued to talk over each other for another minute or so before going into silence.

"No, I'm good." Ambrose finally announced.

"What the fuck was that then?"

"Chief, you're going to want to have a look at this." Knight cut in.

"Ortega, how are we looking?" Brown asked as he pushed himself up off the ground.

"We're fine. They didn't hear a thing."

"Alright, get ready to move out."

Brown stalked over to where Ambrose and Knight were as fast as he could.

"Alright, what's going on?" He asked as he took a knee next to Knight.

Knight moved his hand out of the way, showing Brown for himself.

In his hand was what looked like the body of a small doll, wearing some sort of pink garment, which matched the color of it's hair. The four wings coming off of it's back which were similar to that of an insects only larger were an odd point in it's design.

Of course, the minute it's wings started twitching and it moved it's arms it dawned on Chief Brown that this wasn't a doll at all.

"What the hell…" Brown said, absolutely baffled.

"I know right?" Knight said. "She slammed right into John."

"Looks like she hurt herself doing it too." Ambrose had pushed himself up onto his rear and was looking at the small woman, who could only be described as a Fairy straight out of a fantasy novel.

The woman, who really wasn't any larger than the length of Knight's hand, continued to rub her head as she wriggled around.

"Be careful." Brown said as he got a better look. "Who knows what the hell else is around here."

"What's she going to do? She's so tiny." Knight said as he brought the pointer finger of his other hand closer. As he went to touch her she took notice and seemingly cowered away, trying to clamber out of his hand.

"Oh Jesus, be gentle would you." Ambrose said as he cupped his hands around Knight's taking her out of his grasp. "She's probably scared to shit."

"Alright mister other world expert." Knight said as his hand was freed up. "Relax."

"Ortega, how are we looking?" Brown asked into his ComTac as Ambrose gently cradled the tiny woman in his hand.

"All good, Chief." Came his response. "Ready to move when you are. What's all the commotion for."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"We found Tinker Bell."

"... Alright, you got me."

Meanwhile, Ambrose had pulled down the shemagh he was wearing over his lower face in an attempt to make himself look more human as he raised the hand the small woman was in up.

"Hel… hello…?" Ambrose managed to say, hopefully the language lessons would pay off.

Almost instantly the woman seemed to sit right up, she began to speak very quickly, her voice was hard to make out due to how high pitched it was. It seemed like she frantically was trying to convey some sort of message however.

Ambrose removed his FAST with his other hand, placing it in the grass next to him.

"What's she saying…?" Knight asked confused.

"Hold on." Ambrose responded. "Say… again… speak… not... good." He placed a hand to his chest as he finished his sentence, he hoped he was speaking fluently enough.

The woman looked a little distressed before she continued, once more she spoke very quickly, though this time pointing off behind them towards the camp. Ambrose listened intently, trying his hardest to make out what she was saying.

"He… help." He finally translated. "Help? Wait, what?... need… help… taken… emp… empire?"

"What?" Knight raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly the woman's wings began to flutter and she raised into the air, as she did so they seemed to give off some kind of sparkling particles. She flew over to Knight and began to tug at a patch on his sleeve which had the Punisher skull on it, running her hands along it to bring attention to it.

"Servants… em...roy? Yes?" Ambrose translated. "You… are… servants… Emroy?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Knight asked as he took his hand to kind of shoo her away from his shoulder.

"Hell if I know." Ambrose responded.

The woman flew back over to Ambrose, hovering in front of his face as she continued to speak. It was kind of hard for him to keep up with her.

"Empire…" He translated as she once again pointed off towards the camp. "Taken… others… need… help… you… serve… Emroy… please." Ambrose rubbed his face with his gloved hand. "I think I'm starting to get what she's saying."

"Well?" Brown asked.

"Hold on." Ambrose turned his attention to the small woman, and attempted to communicate once more. "We go camp?" He waved his hand around to indicate the three of them, then pointed off in the direction of the camp.

She very excitedly nodded her head yes, clasping her hands together.

"Others… taken?" He asked her.

She responded quickly, and he once again had to struggle to translate. "Captured… Empire… escape… others… help."

"Well?" Brown said as he picked up his CQBR. He was barely able to follow along with the conversation.

"What she's getting at is I think there are more like her in that camp. She escaped and she wants us to help rescue the others. She seems to think we're something called Emroy or something, I think. Maybe some kind of… I don't know, equivalent to a police force?"

"So, she wants our help."

"Essentially, yes."

"We don't exactly have the time to go raiding, it's about to be daylight. I don't think Reyes would be happy with us blowing everything on day one either."

"...Got it, Chief." Ambrose said as he turned his attention to the small woman. "Can't… help… am… sorry."

The look of excitement on the woman's face drained away in an instant, the color left her face as she collapsed, falling out of the air. Ambrose had to stick both of his gloved hands out to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Jesus Christ." Knight said, standing up. He lifted his Mk46 off of the ground next to him. "If that ain't the saddest thing I've ever seen…" He started walking off to where they had set up their observation post.

"Where are you going?" Brown asked.

"Camp." Knight said as he continued to walk, he adjusted his FAST with his other hand.

Ambrose stood up, cradling the tiny woman in one hand as he pulled on his FAST with the other. He knelt down and picked up his CQBR, walking past Chief Brown.

"And where are you going?"

"Someone has to make sure he doesn't do something stupid. Besides, she's the only one who'll know the way."

"Sunrise in five, it'll be coming up behind you on the approach." Ortega's voice crackled in over the ComTac headsets. "Got you covered otherwise." He had been listening the entire time.

"Fuck it." Brown said as he pushed himself up off the grass.

Captain Reyes would just have to understand. There was no stopping them now.

* * *

 **SEPTEMBER 22ND 2017, 1730 HOURS, YOKOTA AIR BASE, FUSSA, TOKYO, JAPAN**

"Alright gentlemen." Captain Walker said as he rested his hands on a small podium in front of him. "Major McMillen has just handed down the final orders from Washington."

Lieutenant Diaz and SFC Russo were sat at a table, the other platoon commanders and SNCOs of Delta Company sat at similar tables arranged in rows. Captain Walker had called all of them together for an emergency meeting.

"2nd Battalion will be forming part of the spearhead to cross the Gate along with elements from the JGSDFs 1st Brigade, and armored support from the 1st Tank Battalion." Captain Walker said as the Company XO First Lieutenant Adam Erikson entered the room, he handed a file off to the Captain before taking up a position behind him against the wall. "It will be our job to form an initial defensive line with the Japanese and hold it while the second wave is brought in across the Gate. Delta Company will be right at the front of this gentlemen."

Lieutenant Diaz watched as Captain Walker removed something from the file Erikson handed him. He placed it on the projector next to him and turned it on, the image projected onto the wall behind him.

"These are images captured from beyond the Gate earlier today." Captain Walker said as he turned around to face it. "From what we can gather the Gate opens up onto a hill overlooking the enemy encampment which is located at the base."

The image being projected onto the screen was of what appeared to be a large amount of tents arranged in rows.

"We've met this enemy in battle before, gentlemen. We know what they're capable of. We don't know how many more of them are waiting on the other side. But we know their weaknesses. These people don't have firearms, we beat them out of Tokyo, we'll beat them back here."

"Sir, what kind of support can we expect?" Diaz asked.

"Once we get on the other side, we'll be responsible for holding the line with the Japanese while artillery and more support units are brought across in the second wave." Captain Walker switched the image on the projector to a different one, this one showcasing another part of the hill. "Ideally we'll be able to dig in at the top of the hill before the enemy can mount a proper assault, after which we'll dislodge them from their position."

"If everything goes to plan." First Sergeant Hughe Jackson added in from his position behind Captain Walker. "I'd expect contact with the enemy from the moment we cross, Lieutenant."

Diaz nodded as he leaned forward on the desk in front of him.

"We'll be issuing out pocket dictionaries that contain the most up to date translations of the language which we assume is spoken on the other side of the Gate by the end of the week. Orders from Headquarters is to study them when you get the chance, and I'd recommend you all do. I wouldn't expect the shooting war to last long, gentlemen, so make it count."

Captain Walker lifted the image off of the projector, turning it off. He slid the device on it's trolley away from him as he turned around, resting his elbows on the podium in front of him.

"If there are no further questions, Operation Furious Vengeance starts in one week." Captain Walker emphasized as he held up his pointer finger. "Platoon readiness is a must, we're going to show these people that they made a grave mistake when they crossed into this world. Dismissed."

The sounds of chatter picked up as everyone began to talk amongst themselves, or began to file out of the room. Lieutenant Diaz turned in his seat towards Sergeant Russo, the older man looked pensive as he leaned forward onto the desk.

"So?" Lieutenant Diaz asked him as he he stood up, turning to face the man. "What do you think?"

"Well, sir. It's a hell of a first deployment, I can tell you that much." He shook his head. "This will definitely be going down in the history books."

"I know." Diaz nodded. "I'll be counting on you then, Sergeant. Let's get everyone home in one piece."

"Glad to hear, sir." Russo responded, standing up. "I'd suggest we start heading out now, sir. We've got a hell of a week ahead of us."

"Amen to that, Sergeant." Lieutenant Diaz nodded as the pair made their way out of the small conference room and into the hall. Dagger Platoon was about to be in for one hell of a ride.

* * *

 **SEPTEMBER 22ND 2017, TIME UNKNOWN, LOCATION UNKNOWN, INSIDE THE GATE**

"Drop." Came the simple instruction over Brown's ComTac headset.

Instantly all three men dropped into the grass, laying flat. They had successfully made the approach up to the enemy camp and were making their way through a series of tents. Their new tiny friend was leading the way, doing her best to guide the group.

THUNK!

There was the unmistakable sound of a bullet making contact with human flesh as the body of a sentry fell over, twitching and spasming, he was dead. He had come around the corner of a tent at the wrong time. As soon as he was down Ambrose bear crawled forward, grabbing onto the man's body and dragging him into cover behind the tent.

"You go any deeper into the camp and I'm gonna lose visual contact." Ortega's voice crackled in once more.

"How much further are we going?" Brown asked Ambrose in a low tone of voice, that was a beautiful thing about their ComTac headsets, even if you whispered you could hear each other clear as day.

Knight shifted in his position behind the pair, pulling rear security with his Mk46. He hadn't had a reason to use it yet, and hopefully the need wouldn't arise.

"Hold on." Ambrose whispered, turning his attention to the small woman hovering nearby. "Where are others?" He was getting a bit more into speaking the foreign language, and clearly she was understanding him more clearly.

She flew up and then back down as she drifted over to the corner of the tent they were currently behind, leaving the trail of sparkling particles wherever she went. She motioned her tiny arm for Ambrose to come closer.

He silently stalked over to where she was, fortunately they'd been quiet enough to not alert the camp to their presence so far, but the sun was coming up now, which meant people would start waking up soon.

The little woman was pointing up the path towards a tent that was very clearly different. It was larger than the others around it, with two sentries out front, standing with their spears besides them.

Ambrose ducked his head back before he could be noticed. "We're here." He whispered to Chief Brown.

"What're we dealing with?" Brown asked as he adjusted his grip on his CQBR.

Ambrose held up two fingers, signifying two threats.

Brown rotated on the spot, turning around and patting Knight's shoulder.

Given the signal, the man rose to his feet and stalked his way in between the tents, travelling parallel to the path that existed between all of them. Brown moved up behind him, stopping at the corner of the tent for Ambrose to catch up.

Once Ambrose backed up to the corner Brown disappeared between the tents, he and Knight stalked silently forward between the tents. They needed to pick up the pace, they were starting to cut it very close.

Not that Brown wasn't confident in the ability for the three of them to fight their way out of the camp and make a clean getaway, he was nearly certain they could do it. But 'going loud' would create even more problems than this impromptu raid would. He was already going to rail Knight and Ambrose's asses when they got back because of this.

Knight came to a halt, dropping down onto his knee. He raised a fist into the air which made Brown come to a halt behind him. A moment later Ambrose stopped behind him, shouldering his CQBR.

There was a pause as every man held his breath, a pair of soldiers clad in metal armor walked past, laughing and speaking amongst themselves. Thankfully they didn't appear to be alarmed in any way.

A moment later Knight gave a series of hand signals, telling Brown to cross the gap between tents in front of him. He stalked forward to the edge and peeked his head out… all clear.

Brown moved across the small gap as fast as he could, coming to a halt on the other side. He was quickly followed by Ambrose, with Knight taking the rear now.

They had successfully made their way past the tent that their small friend pointed out to them, and after maneuvering their way between a few more they split off.

Brown watched as Ambrose moved a little farther up, coming around the other side of the tent.

The two sentires out front were completely unaware of the group that had surrounded them.

It could be heard as one of them tried to make idle conversation with the other, they were just going about their morning as if it was any other day.

Of course, that normal day was quickly ruined as one of the guards watched his friends face crumple into a bloody mess, his body falling over in a heap before his spear even had a chance to lose it's balance.

The panic swelled up in him as he felt a hand covered in some sort of strange material grasp over his mouth, muffling him as he screamed out in desperation. There was a sharp pain as he felt something stab into his neck, he wasn't able to scream anymore and everything faded to black.

Brown let go of the soldier clad in his Roman style armor. Letting his body slowly slip down to the ground.

"Good shit." Ortega announced over comms. "You're still good, but I'd expedite it chief."

"Solid copy." Brown whispered into his mic. He knelt down, wiping the blade off on the sleeve of the soldier's tunic.

Ambrose emerged from his position where he had opened fire. He instinctively stacked up on the entrance of the tent as Knight emerged from his position.

Brown formed up behind Ambrose and patted his shoulder twice.

There was a moments pause as Ambrose disappeared through the tent flap and inside, splitting off to the left. Brown followed in right behind him, splitting off to the right.

The inside wasn't what they were expecting. There appeared to be extravagant looking cases and cabinets inside, along with ornate golden decorations. Around the tent were golden torch holders which had burnt out over the course of the previous night. At the back of the tent was a large desk of some kind, and nearby a much more ornate bed than was practical for living in the field.

On top of the bed lay an older looking gentleman, who clearly had been disturbed by the sudden burst of morning sun being allowed into his quarters.

The man took one glance at the strange men in his tent before he sprung into action. From beneath his pillow he raised a rather large dagger, throwing the sheets off of himself to reveal his naked body. He went to push himself off the bed and charge at the intruders, but he didn't get far.

THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK!

The man's body danced and jerked around as the two suppressed carbines tore into him, he never stood a chance. His body did a half turn as the final bullet ripped through his torso, throwing him back onto his bed.

"Room clear." Ambrose announced over comms.

Knight back in through the tent entrance, dragging the bodies of the two sentires with him.

The dagger the man had been wielding slipped off of his bed with a silent thud.

"Bag anything interesting so we can justify this." Brown ordered as Knight rolled one of the bodies onto the other with a grunt.

Brown moved over to one of the cabinets, ripping it open. Inside were a bunch of very old looking books, bound in leather. He took one out, placing it onto the small counter and opening it up.

Written in a language he hardly understood, figures. Oh well, it would have to wait. He grabbed the book and placed it into his dump pouch, hanging off the rear of his belt. Thankfully it was small enough to fit. He did the same with a couple of the other books inside the cabinet.

"Fucking hell." Knight announced over the ComTac. "Found them."

Brown checked over his shoulder. Knight was standing over the table at the back of the room, with the tiny woman hovering above his shoulder. She was waving her arms as she pleaded in her high pitched voice.

"What kind of sick fuck does this shit?" He continued as Brown came over. It didn't take long for him to see what he was talking about.

On the table were three other similarly sized women as their new friend. Each of them held in place by having a nail of some kind driven into each one of their wings. There was a lot of blood. One of them was clearly already dead, both of her arms were missing, her tiny human features twisted in agony.

Ambrose was currently doing his best to confirm if another one was still alive or not, her leg had been broken completely in half as it was twisted behind her, the tiny bone protruding out. He had removed the glove on one of his hands and was trying to see if she was still breathing. He moved two of his fingers across her chest for a minute as he tried to feel anything.

"She's… breathing, yeah, yeah she is." Ambrose said as he took his fingers away. He quickly slipped his glove back on. "Fuck, what do we do Chief?"

Brown was taken aback by this a bit, he had seen his fair share of disturbing sights. Whether that had been during his time in the 'Big Army' or during his time in the Special Forces, he had become very familiar with carnage and what human beings could do to each other.

This was different, this wasn't destruction as a result of war. This was more akin to a psychopath in the making torturing small animals. It was disturbing. Granted, his line of work intrinsically involved taking lives, but it made him all the more angry to see a sight like this. Men like him took lives for a purpose, a reason, to defend their nation, it's citizens, and protect their individual freedoms.

This was just mindless slaughter.

"What's the status on the third?" Brown asked.

"She looks fine, but obviously not in great shape." Ambrose responded. He was hunched over the table while Knight gave him some light to work with. As a Medical Sergeant his training had taken over. He was working as fast as he could to try and find a way to remove the nails keeping the surviving pair attached to the table. "Pretty sure her legs are also broken."

"Fucking christ." Brown grunted. "What can you do?"

"Not much, if I'm being honest." Ambrose said quickly. There was a zip as he opened a pouch on his plate carrier. "I don't know anything about these people, Chief. They're so tiny I wouldn't know where to start. Can't really get an IV drip going, the needles nearly the size of their arms. Who knows how much blood this one has lost anyway, or even how much is even in a body this small."

"Need a hand?" Knight asked as Ambrose tried to remove one of the nails with the table using a multitool.

"Gentle now, gentle." Ambrose instructed as Knight assisted him in prying the nail free. While the pair might mess with each other quite a bit, they knew how to work together, Knight followed everything Ambrose told him.

Eventually the first nail in one of the woman with the snapped legs wings slowly started to come out. Ambrose grabbed onto it and pulled it out as gentle as he could.

Meanwhile, their friend from the forest gently landed on his shoulder. She wasn't very talkative anymore.

"How long do you think you'll need to get both of them free?" Brown asked as he turned around, watching the entrance to the tent.

"Another five at the least. I'm gonna amputate this one's leg here too, get her wrapped up in gauze."

"Copy." Brown nodded. He touched a hand to the side of his FAST as he switched to talking with Ortega. "Ortega, get ready to cover us while we exfiltrate."

"Got you covered Chief." Came the response. "I'd hurry up, activity is starting to pick up."

Seconds ticked away in tense silence as Ambrose continued to work on freeing the two that were pinned to the table. Knight had started going around the tent and taking pictures of anything that seemed important with a small digital camera.

Voices could be heard outside, the camp was definitely waking up. Hopefully no one was too nosey to come looking inside the tent for the sentries, or just whoever the hell the occupant was.

"They're free, gonna go ahead with the amputation now." Ambrose announced.

There was the sound of tearing plastic as Ambrose removed a surgical blade from his kit. He leaned over really close, bringing his face right down by where the woman was laying passed out.

As he started to bring the blade closer though, his new friend flew down from his shoulder and in his way. Blocking him. She seemed horrified.

"This for her good." He said to her, pulling down his shemagh again. He gave as reassuring of a smile as he could "I promise." He finished in English.

She seemed to get the message, taking a tentative step backwards and out of the way. Clearly still very worried as she grasped her pink hair with both of her tiny hands.

In one quick motion Ambrose took the blade and cut away the tiny strands of muscle holding the lower half of the woman's tiny leg together. He then ripped open a package of QuikClot he had placed next to him open. He gently lifted the small woman up and begun to wrap it around the lower half of her body.

It looked almost comical, if it was under any given circumstance, as if he was wrapping it around a Barbie Doll. After he had fully wrapped her legs up in it a few times over he took the bandage shears he had and cut the gauze.

After this he grabbed the other remaining woman and lifted her up, she was also passed out, and as he had suspect it seemed both of her legs were broken from blunt force trauma. Nothing Ambrose could do about it here. He proceeded to wrap her up with the remaining gauze.

"All good?" Brown asked, a hurried tone to his voice now.

"All good here, Chief. I'm ready to move them."

Ambrose's new friend flew up into his face and motioned towards the first woman still attached to the table, dead. He shook his head in response. "I'm sorry." He said in her language.

Ambrose carefully placed the two very tiny casualties into his dump pouch. He'd have to be very careful while moving them.

"Knight, you ready?" Brown asked.

While Ambrose had been performing his impromptu medical procedure Knight had been prepping a set of thermite grenades. A parting gift for the enemy as they made their escape.

Brown checked outside the tent, activity sure had picked up.

"Stack up, and get ready to move." Brown ordered, he grabbed Knight's shoulder as he did so. "Stick to my ass, we're going loud."

"You got it, Chief." Knight grinned wildly, raising his Mk46 to his shoulder. He placed a hand on the foregrip as he looked through his EoTech sight.

For the Imperial soldiers in the camp at the base of Alnus hill it was as if all hell had suddenly broke loose. There was a loud and violent series of horrible banging and popping noises, followed by the screams of the damned. It invoked memories of the battle on the other side of the Gate in a few of them, causing them to cower in fear even though the sounds came from the other side of the camp.

For anyone unlucky enough to have been in the area around the tent of Centurion Agun Pa Maria they found themselves cut down in a flurry of fire magic. From the Centurion's tent a group of men resembling demons, covered in browns and greens with unkempt facial hair and wild eyes burst out, wielding staffs.

The largest one of the trio wielded a rather box shaped one, which he sprayed wildly into any Imperial soldier he saw. There was nothing they could do, men scattered like ants in all directions, many of them had only just woken up and were looking for a morning meal.

As many of the men scrambled to grab their weapons it was too late, the trio had already begun moving methodically and quickly, as if they were one. Everytime one of the enemy mages stopped to attend to his staff, another took his place spraying fire magic into anyone who dared get close.

Within minutes they had burst out from the perimeter of the camp and had broken out into a sprint for the woods. A few archers ran into position, taking up their bows. There was an audible groan as their bow strings were pulled taut.

THWUNK THWUNK THWUNK!

A volley of arrows were let loose as they soared up into the air, but it was no use. With the sun shining directly into their eyes every single arrow missed, landing harmlessly in the grass just behind the group of men as they sprinted into the treeline.

THUNK THUNK THUNK!

There was a response to the archer's arrow fire. Men dropped dead, crumpling to the ground as their heads were torn apart by some unseen force. By the time it was noticed it was too late, most of them were already dead.

Meanwhile, back at Centurion Agun Pa Maria's tent a few soldiers opened the tent flap to see if their leader was still alive, as slim a chance there was. What they found didn't surprise them, there he was, naked, covered in his own blood and slaughtered like an animal atop his own bed.

What did surprise them, however, was how suddenly from several locations inside the tent there was a sudden and great fire. Sparks and flame spewed from seemingly everywhere as the tent went up in flames. One of the soldiers screamed in agony as red hot molten metal made contact with his skin.

On the outside it was absolute chaos, the fire quickly spread to the nearby tents and men had to work frantically to try and douse the flames, mostly to no avail. A few soldiers tried to help their comrade who was writhing on the ground, covered in burn wounds.

What in the name of the Gods had happened?

Deep down, many of the men knew.

They had angered a Titan beyond the Gate…

..and now that Titan was here.


End file.
